£233 


"  I  want  to  pledge  my  life  to  your  service — my  life  and  all 
I  am." 


WITCH'S  GOLD 

being  a  neu> 
and  enlarged  version  of 

"THE  SPIRlTo/SWEETWATER" 
by 

HAMLIN  GARLAND 

author  of 

Wayside  Courtships, 
Main  Travelled  Roads, 
Prairie  Songs,  Etc,Etc. 


Neuo  York 
Doubleday  Page  £r  Company 

1906 


, 


Copyright,  1898,  1906,  by 

Hnr.ilm  Garlanc 
Published,  September,  1906 


All  rights  reserved, 

including  that  of  translation  into  foreign  languages 
including  the  Scandinavian. 


ZULIME  TAFT  GARLAND, 
MY  WIFE, 


ffl 


228620 


Author's  Foreword 

ONE  August  day  some  ten  or  twelve 
years  ago,  I  was  riding  over  the 
splendid  road  which  leads  from-  Cripple 
Creek  to  Colorado  Springs,  in  the  stage 
which  was  at  that  time  a  three-seated  moun 
tain  wagon.  A  woman  sat  with  the  driver, 
and  some  person  of  no  moment  to  me  then 
or  now,  occupied  the  place  beside  me;  but 
the  rear  seat  was  filled  by  two  stalwart 
miners — or  rather,  a  miner  and  a  mining 
engineer,  who  furnished  the  only  conversa 
tion  during  the  trip.  It  was  all  about  the 
camp,  new  mines  and  old,  shafts,  upraises, 
faulting  veins  and  the  like,  and  mightily 
interesting  to  me  it  all  was,  for  I,  too,  was 
prospecting,  seeking  a  "lead"  with  eyes 


viii       AUTHOR'S   FOREWORD 

open  to  any  piece  of  "float"  which  might 
indicate  a  vein  higher  up. 

I  had  in  mind  to  write  a  story  showing 
how  a  man  of  average  moral  sense  might 
find  his  conscience  quickened  by  the  thought 
of  approaching  marriage  with  a  good  wom 
an.  I  needed  a  situation  wherein  my  hero 
(to  use  the  old  term)  would  be  quite  within 
the  law  and  yet  morally  culpable.  I  had 
dimly  foreshadowed  the  scene  where  Rich 
ard  Clement  felt  the  eyes  of  his  bride-elect 
contemplating  with  startled  surprise  a  cer 
tain  dubious  action  of  his  business  life,  and 
the  mining  engineer  in  the  seat  behind  me 
supplied  the  exact  theme,  in  a  story  he  told 
of  a  certain  mine  filled  with  mysterious,  re 
fractory  ore. 

I  began  upon  the  story  that  night  and 
called  it  "Witch's  Gold."  Later,  yielding 
to  the  needs  of  a  serial  publication,  I  cut 


AUTHOR'S  FOREWORD          ix 

down  the  story  and  called  it  "The  Spirit  of 
S\\  eetwater,"  intending  to  restore  it  to  its 
original  form  in  the  book  edition.  A  com 
bination  of  circumstances  prevented  this  and 
the  story  was  put  into  a  series  of  novelettes 
in  the  same  form  and  under  the  same  name 
as  when  serialized. 

In  this  edition  the  tale  opens  precisely  as 
it  was  originally  written,  and  the  reasons  for 
restoring  the  original  title  will,  I  think,  ap 
pear  in  the  text.  The  revision  of  the  manu 
script  for  this  present,  final  form  has  re 
sulted  in  considerable  new  material  which 
appears  here  for  the  first  time,  but  the  course 
of  the  love-story  and  the  situations  remain 
substantially  the  same  as  in  the  original 

writing. 

HAMLIN  GARLAND. 

March  14,  1906. 




UJh 

. 

PAGF? 

FOREWORD 

VII 

CHAPTER  I 

I 

CHAPTER  II 

i? 

CHAPTER  III 

32 

CHAPTER  IV 

42 

CHAPTER  V 

62 

CHAPTER  VI 

•     85 

CHAPTER  VII 

-     99 

CHAPTER  VIII    . 

,    121 

CHAPTER  IX 

•  I31 

CHAPTER  X 

•  152 

CHAPTER  XI 

,  161 

CHAPTER  XII     . 

.  179 

CHAPTER  XIII    . 

.  218 

Characters  in  tfte  Storp 

ELLICE  Ross,  in  search  of  health. 

MR.  Ross,  her  father. 

SARAH  Ross,  her  aunt. 

RICHARD  CLEMENT,  her  lover. 

DAN  McCARTY,  who  "grub-stakes"  Clement. 

BIDDY  McCARTY,  treasurer  of  The  Biddy. 

ELDRED,  financier. 

BODAVITZ,  his  lawyer. 


"  I  want  to  pledge  my  life 
to  your  service — my  life 
and  all  I  am  "  .  .  Frontispie 


FACING    PAGE 

Her  face  was  thin,  and 

her    head    shapely,  but 

her    eyes     burned  like 

rarest  topaz — deep  and 
dark  and  sad  " 


There  was  a  s  i- 
lence,  a  very  awe 
some  silence  follow 
ing  the  defiant  ring 
of  the  voice  " 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  MOUNTAINS 

'As  the  sun  sinks 
And  the  canons  deepening  in  colour 

Add  mystery  to  silence, 
Then  the  lone  traveller,  lying  outstretched 
Beneath  the  silent  pines  on  some  high  range^ 
Watches  and  listens  in  ecstasy  of  fear 

And  timorous  admiration* 

In  the  roar  of  the  stream  he  catches 

The  reminiscent  echo  of  colossal  cataract*} 

In  the  cry  of  the  cliff-bird 
He  thinks  he  hears  the  eagle's  scream 
Or  the  yowl  of  far-off  mountain-cat; 

And  the  fall  of  a  loose  rock 

Seems  the  menacing  footfall  of  the  grizzly  bear; 
While  in  the  black  deeps  of  the  lower  fords 
His  dreaming  eyes  detect  once  more 
Prodigious  lines  of  buffalo,  crawling  snake-wise 

Athwart  the  stream, 
And  files  of  Indian  warriors 
Go  winding  downward  to  the  distant  plain, 

Where  the  camp-fires  gleam  like  tfars. 


y 

WITCH'S 
GOLD 


CHAPTER    I 

ONE  afternoon  in  August  a  miner 
came  out  of  the  red  jaws  of  a  tunnel 
on  the  rounded  hill-side  of  a  Cripple  Creek 
claim.  He  looked  old  and  haggard,  and 
was  bent  with  digging  and  stained  with  soil 
and  powder-smoke — but  he  was  in  fact 
young.  Taking  a  seat  on  a  rock  he  gazed 
away  at  the  landscape  with  eyes  which  saw 
nothing  before  him. 

It  was  nearly  sunset,  and  he  had  toiled  all 
day  without  food  and  was  weak  and  pale 
with  hunger.  Overcome  by  a  blinding 
weakness  he  had  dropped  his  pick  at  the  end 
of  his  tunnel  and  staggered  to  the  daylight 
with  only  a  dull  despairing  realisation  that 
he  had  come  to  the  end. 


2  WITCH'S    GOLD 

For  weeks  he  had  trodden  his  narrow  way 
like  some  incredibly  patient  subterranean 
animal,  picking  steadily  at  the  red  rock  and 
breathing  the  close  dank  air  of  his  burrow, 
coming  only  occasionally  to  the  light,  his 
mind  set  on  penetrating  ever  deeper  into  the 
hill. 

The  sun  had  gone  down  behind  immense 
clouds  which  rose  in  the  west  in  shape  like 
a  prodigious  mountain  range.  Behind  him, 
luminous  as  moons,  the  smooth  hills  rose, 
while  far  to  the  south  a  mighty  rampart  of 
peaks  lifted  into  the  sky,  cold  and  white  and 
stern  as  marble.  Below  him  lay  the  camp — 
a  straggling  row  of  battlemented  stores 
with  cabins  of  pine  and  aspen  scattered 
along  the  sod  as  a  child  might  spill  an  apron- 
full  of  pine  blocks  upon  a  parlour  car 
pet.  The  smooth  slopes  were  everywhere 
speckled  with  little  red  heaps  of  earth  mark- 


WITCH'S    GOLD  3 

ing  the  spots  where  other  hopeful  and  untir 
ing  prospectors  had  tried  for  gold. 

Down  the  converging  trails  which  meshed 
the  blotched  and  ulcerated  hills,  men  were 
moving  like  ants,  their  shouldered  tools  and 
swinging  dinner-pails  flashing  in  the  sun 
light.  Blasts  were  booming  from  the 
emptied  deeper  mines  like  leisurely  siege- 
guns,  and  a  train  was  winding  like  a  fleeting 
serpent  among  the  lower  forests — for  all 
this  land  was  composed  of  grassy  mountain 
tops  more  than  ten  thousand  feet  above  the 
sea. 

The  miner's  cabin  which  joined  the  tun 
nel's  mouth  was  a  dug-out  built  of  aspen 
poles  in  the  front  and  roofed  with  sods.  It 
contained  a  bunk,  a  small  stove,  a  kettle,  a 
frying  pan  and  a  knife  and  fork.  Once 
it  had  contained  a  cup  and  saucer,  but  the 
saucer  had  been  broken — the  cup  stood 


4  WITCH'S    GOLD 

alone.  It  was  not  a  home,  it  was  a  den — 
little  better  than  that  of  a  fox. 

For  weeks  this  tall  young  man  had 
lived  upon  a  sort  of  batter  made  of  second 
grade  flour  and  water,  drinking  coffee  with 
out  milk  or  sugar — and  now  at  last  he  had 
reached  a  depth  when  not  even  a  spoonful 
of  this  desolating  fare  was  left  him.  His 
money  was  gone — much  of  it  to  the  assayer 
and  the  blacksmith — and  his  head  was  swim 
ming  with  weakness  and  hopeless  pain. 

He  had  thrown  his  pick  aside  at  last. 
All  was  ended.  Nothing  was  left  him  now 
but  to  beg  a  meal  and  to  seek  a  job.  He 
had  the  foolish  shrinking  from  this  which 
a  man  feels  who  has  never  borrowed  without 
returning  promptly,  who  has  always  earned 
every  cent  he  spent  and  who  owes  no  man 
anything.  All  the  security  and  repose  and 
plenty  of  his  boyhood's  home  in  the  East 


WITCH'S    GOLD  5 

came  back  to  him  with  tantalising  clearness. 
It  was  all  so  far  away. 

Now  that  the  last  stroke  of  his  pick  had 
been  made  he  saw  how  foolishly  persistent, 
how  insanely  hopeful  he  had  been. 

"  If  I  go — I  must  go  now,"  he  said  to 
himself,  and  rose  and  stumbled  down  the 
trail  with  no  clear  conception  of  what  he 
was  doing — or  where  he  should  find  food — 
he  only  knew  he  was  hungry  and  chill,  and 
there — down  there  where  the  lights  blazed, 
was  meat  and  fire — but  not  friends.  He 
knew  no  one  well  enough  to  call  them 
friends.  He  had  never  been  much  given  to 
saloon  life  and  had  almost  always  taken  his 
glass  of  beer  and  his  dinner  alone,  returning 
to  his  hole  in  the  hill  with  scarcely  a  word  of 
greeting  to  any  other  soul. 

His  heavy  slumping  step  jarred  his  head 
painfully,  but  he  could  not  lighten  it — his 


6  WITCH'S    GOLD 

will  could  do  no  more  than  guide  his  stag 
gering  feet  down  the  path;  he  seemed  about 
to  fall  on  his  face  like  a  drunken  man. 

His  trail  led  him  across  a  little  flat  where 
on  a  negro  was  placer-mining,  rocking 
an  old-fashioned  cradle.  Hitherto  he  had 
spoken  to  this  man  pleasantly  as  he  passed, 
but  now  when  he  needed  a  cup  of  coffee 
and  some  meat,  he  hurried  unsteadily  by 
without  so  much  as  looking  toward  his  hut. 
He  was  afraid  the  man  might  know  that  he 
was  famishing. 

As  he  entered  the  camp  the  smell  of  in 
numerable  suppers  aroused  in  him  a  fury 
of  hunger.  Through  the  open  doorways  of 
the  little  poplar  pole  cabins  he  could  see  men 
sitting  at  supper  with  their  wives  and  chil 
dren.  The  scant  cheer,  even  of  the  tents, 
seemed  to  be  luxurious  beyond  the  reach  of 
any  one  but  a  God-favoured  mortal.  The 


WITCH'S    GOLD  7 

glimpse  of  a  woman  in  a  home  seemed  peril 
ously  beautiful.  On  the  street  he  was 
familiar  only  with  the  post  office,  one  or  two 
restaurants,  the  bar  room  of  the  principal 
hotel,  and  the  grocery  where  he  purchased 
his  supplies — and  he  walked  aimlessly  on 
past  them  all. 

It  was  Saturday  night  and  the  street 
swarmed  with  miners,  gamblers,  speculators 
and  cowboys,  but  was  quiet  and  orderly  in 
spite  of  its  throng.  Talk  was  quiet  and  the 
noise  of  the  sidewalk  came  to  him  as  a  mur 
mur  and  a  slow  bustle.  Men  filled  the 
saloons  and  gambling  houses  till  they 
seemed  convention  halls.  Roughly  clad 
toilers  sitting  on  nail  kegs  before  the  doors 
seemed  to  be  in  slow  rumination  of  their 
evening  meal.  Others  still  had  a  hungry 
look  and  a  listless  dragging  gait  like  his 
own.  That  they  were  tired  and  hungry 


8  WITCH'S    GOLD 

too  he  knew.  One  man  stopped  another 
and  asked  for  money;  and  this  seemed  so 
base  that  the  miner  hurried  on  out  ofi 
hearing  as  if  the  act  might  contaminate 
him. 

In  the  windows  he  could  perceive  without 
turning  his  head,  delicious  brown  loaves  of 
bread  and  boiled  ham  and  pies.  The 
aroma  of  coffee  allured  from  every  open 
doorway.  The  men  he  passed  savoured  of 
roast  pork  and  pudding.  His  nostrils, 
made  sensitive  by  need,  had  taken  on  the 
keenness  of  a  hound's,  and  his  sufferings 
sharpened  with  every  step.  Turning,  he 
reascended  the  street  to  the  post  office. 

He  had  no  expectation  of  a  letter,  but  to 
keep  his  mind  from  food  to  put  off  his 
beggary  for  a  moment,  he  turned  in  and 
approached  the  window. 

"  Clement,"  he  called  hoarsely. 


WITCH'S    GOLD  9 

"  Richard? "  asked  the  brisk  clerk. 
"  One — two  cents  due  on  it." 

Clement  recoiled  as  if  the  clerk  had  thrust 
his  fist  at  him.  His  face  was  livid  as  he 
stammered : 

"  I — I  haven't  a  cent — with  me.  Keep 
it — till  to-morrow." 

The  clerk  understood.  He  blustered  a 
little  to  justify  himself. 

"  Well,  all  right — pay  it  when  you  come 
next  time.  Only  it  ain't  business.  I  get 
left  about  half  the  time." 

Clement  took  the  letter  and  opened  it 
with  trembling  fingers.  It  was  from  home 
— in  his  sister's  writing,  a  beautiful  un 
shaded  hair-line  tracing,  deliberate  and  re 
fined.  It  was  a  message  of  peace  and  good 
will,  expressing  the  hope  that  he  was  turning 
out  the  gold  in  nuggets  as  big  as  potatoes. 
It  was  jocose  and  newsy  and  careful,  and 


10  WITCH'S    GOLD 

every  word  threw  Clement's  failure  into 
darker  shadow. 

He  walked  down  the  street  again  with 
his  shame  still  hot  on  his  forehead.  The 
security  and  peace  of  the  house  from  which 
that  letter  came,  and  its  allusion  to  nuggets, 
made  him  groan  with  self -pitying  emotion. 

He  halted  before  a  saloon  and  stood 
against  an  awning  post  to  recover  himself. 

"  Let  me  see — let  me  see,"  he  muttered 
irresolutely  like  a  man  in  a  dream.  "  I 
must  eat — or  I'll  be  sick." 

His  dim  eyes  became  aware  of  a  splendid 
young  cowboy  standing  in  the  doorway. 
He  knew  the  man  by  sight  as  Black  Mose, 
a  trailer  and  desperado.  He  was  dressed 
in  a  close  fitting  cutaway  coat  of  black. 
His  shoes,  tie,  collar  were  all  neat  and  in 
good  taste.  He  wore  a  broad  rimmed 
black  hat,  his  face  was  cleanly  shaven  and 


WITCH'S    GOLD  11 

his  fine  mustache  waxed — in  his  chin  was 
a  fine  dimple. 

Clement  thought,  "  Here  is  the  man  to 
help  me,"  and  started  toward  the  young 
fellow,  but  at  his  first  step  he  reeled  and 
nearly  fell,  and  the  cowboy  caught  him,  and 
looking  down  at  him  with  a  beautiful  smile, 
said  indulgently: 

"Careful!  old  man — use  both  feet  and 
don't  mix  'em  up." 

Clement  went  off  down  the  walk  as 
guiltily  as  if  he  had  in  very  truth  drunkenly 
lurched  upon  the  friendly  youth. 

As  he  came  opposite  the  "  Dime  Restau 
rant  "  where  he  had  eaten  many  meals,  and 
heard  the  clatter  of  dishes,  he  thought: 
"  Dan  will  give  me  a  biscuit  and  a  cup  of 
coffee,"  but  he  passed  on  irresolutely, 
ashamed,  afraid.  As  he  turned  and  passed 
the  door  a  second  time,  He  saw  plump  Mrs. 


12  WITCH'S    GOLD 

McCarty  waiting  on  the  tables  while  Dan 
sat  at  the  desk  in  front  selling  cigars  and 
punching  the  tickets.  He  was  passing  the 
door  a  third  time  when  he  heard  Dan  laugh 
and  this  hearty  roar  decided  him  to  enter. 

As  he  stumbled  over  the  sill  and  into 
Dan's  sight,  the  jolly  little  Irishman  called 
out: 

"  Good  avenin',  Mr.  Clement.  Howly 
turf,  man! "  he  cried,  and  caught  Clement 
by  the  arm.  "Biddy — here's  a  sick  mon " 

"Sick!"  she  called.  "More  like  it's  a 
soak.  Lave  him  go,  Dan.  Why  Mr. 
Clement — is  it  yourself? "  she  cried  with  a 
change  of  tone.  'What  ails  ye,  sure?" 

Clement  muttered  unintelligibly  as  they 
led  him  to  a  chair  at  the  nearest  table. 

Biddy  studied  him  with  experienced  eyes. 
"Dan,  'tis  not  drink — it's  hunger!  Wait 
till  I  bring  him  some  soup." 


WITCH'S    GOLD  13 

Clement  looked  up  at  them  without  a 
word — scarcely  comprehending  what  they 
said.  He  waited  apathetically.  His  cheek 
bones  produced  bluish  hollows  on  his  ghast 
ly  face,  and  his  eyes  were  as  piteous  in  ap 
peal  as  those  of  a  wounded  dog.  At  last 
he  made  an  effort  to  speak.  He  whispered 
huskily: 

"  I — I  came  in,  Dan,  to  ask  you  to — to 
grub-stake  me — for  a  week — I'll  strike  it  in 
a  few  days — I  know " 

"  He  wants  me  to  grub-stake  Jim,"  Dan 
explained  to  Biddy  as  she  returned  with  a 
bowl  of  hot  soup : 

"  Grub-stake  is  ut?  What  he  wants  is  a 
beefsteak — here  drink  this!  " 

Clement  took  the  soup  in  his  trembling 
hands,  and  drank  it  like  a  thirsty  child. 

"  Not  too  fast  now,"  warned  Biddy. 
"Bedad,  that'll  run  into  his  blood  to  beat 


14  WITCH'S    GOLD 

any  liquor  in  the  world.     See  him  hearten 
up!    He'll  be  himself  in  five  minutes!  " 

There  was  only  one  man  left  in  the  room, 
a  large  man  with  a  wide,  red,  pleasant  face 
adorned  with  a  big  mustache.  He  had 
sunny  blue  eyes  and  a  winning  smile.  He 
rose  and  came  over  to  the  table  where 
Clement  sat  waiting  for  the  whirl  of  his 
brain  to  cease  in  order  that  he  might  frame 
a  sentence  of  thanks  and  another  of  ex 
planation.  He  knew  the  big  man  by  sight. 
He  was  a  prospector  by  the  name  of  Kelly 
— Kelly  of  Squaw  Mountain.  A  man  who 
could  trail  up  the  float  of  a  ledge  as  a 
hunter  follows  the  slot  of  a  deer. 

e  Why  Clement,  what's  the  matter  with 
ye?  "  he  heartily  asked. 

"  I'm  used  up,"  Clement  made  slow  re 
ply.  "  Hungry,  dead  broke  and  sick.  I 
guess  I've  been  crazy  too." 


WITCH'S    GOLD  15 

"Well  that's  tough  luck,"  said  Kelly. 
"  But  don't  give  up.  You're  fur  enough 
down  now  to  make  a  strike.  All  the  big 
strikes  come  when  a  man's  worked  his  heart 
into  his  boots  and  is  just  ready  to  give  up. 
Keep  at  it.  Your  chances  are  good  on  that 
lead.  If  I  hadn't  more  holes  in  the  ground 
than  I've  dollars  in  me  pocket,  I'd  give  ye 
a  lift  on  that  deal." 

"  I  think  not,  Kelly,"  put  in  Dan.  "  I 
was  jist  arrangin'  to  grub-stake  Mr.  Clem 
ent  meself." 

Kelly  winked  at  Clement  as  if  to  say: 
"I've  fixed  it  for  you,"  and  walked  away. 

"  Now  thin,"  said  Dan,  "to  bed  ye  goes, 
and  to-morrow  we'll  talk  business." 

That  night  was  one  of  delicious,  dream 
less  sleep,  and  when  he  woke  Richard  was 
himself  again.  By  noon  of  next  day  "  The 
Biddy  Mining  Company  "  was  formed — 


16  WITCH'S    GOLD 

Richard  Clement,  president;  Dan  McCarty, 
vice-president ;  Biddy  McCarty,  treasurer— 
though   Biddy   was   sceptical,   as   she   had 
reason  to  be  from  hard  experience. 

"  Sure  that  lukes  well — but  what  shall  I 
be  when  the  gould  comes  in — a  receiver?  " 

Clement  smiled. 

"  We  hope  we'll  never  go  into  the  hands 
of  any  other  receiver." 

As  he  went  back  up  the  hill  to  the  deso 
late  little  cabin,  the  young  miner's  heart  was 
big  with  hope.  Kelly's  words,  "  Ye're  low 
enough  now  to  make  a  strike  "  seemed  to 
have  the  significance  of  prophecy. 


CHAPTER  II 

-TyrOTWITHSTANDING  Kelly's  or- 
-1-  ^1  acular  saying,  the  hill  refused  to 
yield  its  treasure  to  Richard  Clement,  and 
in  his  second  descent  to  pennilessness  he 
carried  the  loyal  Dan  and  Biddy  with  him. 
They  began  by  grub-staking  him,  they 
ended  by  taking  desperate  chances  with 
him.  All  Dan's  little  store  of  ready  money 
went  first,  then  a  mortgage  was  put  on  the 
eating  house  and  its  scanty  furniture. 
This  was  also  very  soon  used  up  in  cost  of 
tramway  and  tools  and  powder. 

Clement  accepted  all  these  sacrifices  with 
a  look  in  his  face  such  as  gamblers  wear. 
He  knew  he  was  stripping  his  friends  to 
the  skin,  but  he  believed  (with  the  intensity 


18  WITCH'S    GOLD 

of  a  maniac)  that  his  mine  would  enable  him 
to  give  back  thousands  for  every  dollar  they 
put  in.  He  toiled  like  a  giant,  and  when 
they  could  no  longer  help,  he  worked  on 
alone. 

Dan  had  days  when  he  utterly  despaired, 
but  Clement  never  gave  up.  He  slept  only 
to  dream  night  after  night  of  opening  a 
vein  which  should  yield  hundreds  of  dollars 
to  the  ton.  He  struggled  on,  lending  his 
great  strength  to  the  most  arduous,  un 
wholesome  phases  of  the  work — sparing 
himself  in  no  regard.  He  seemed  endowed 
with  the  resolution  of  five  men.  His  op 
timism  could  not  be  called  good  cheer — it 
was  grewsome  like  the  grin  of  a  madman. 
So  long  as  he  could  procure  food  he  per 
sisted. 

His  influence  over  Dan  and  Biddy  was 
sinister — uncanny.  When  not  in  his  pres- 


WITCH'S    GOLD  19 

ence  they  sank  into  measureless  depths  and 
not  infrequently  Biddy  wailed  in  stormy 
Irish  fashion  over  their  situation,  but  they 
both  rallied  quickly  to  smiles  when  Clement 
turned  his  rapt  eyes  on  them,  and  Dan 
would  often  take  up  his  dinner  pail  after  he 
had  set  it  down  with  a  solemn  word  never  to 
climb  the  hill  again,  for  when  the  money 
gave  out  he  had  joined  Clement  at  the 
mine,  leaving  Biddy  to  run  the  eating 
place  alone. 

At  last  the  day  came  when  they  could  not 
meet  the  payment  of  the  interest  on  the 
mortgage,  and  the  money  lender  curtly 
said:  "  Very  well — I  must  take  possession 
then." 

That  night  was  a  dark  one  for  the  three 
partners  of  "  The  Biddy"  The  president 
sat  and  stared  blankly  at  the  floor,  the  vice- 
president  groaned  dismally  and  the  treas- 


20  WITCH'S    GOLD 

urer  threw  her  apron  over  her  head  and 
rocked  and  wailed  in  unassuageable  grief. 

In  the  morning  the  creditor  would  take 
possession,  but  had  promised  to  retain 
Biddy  as  cook — "  Me  that's  been  me  own 
boss  fer  over  twelve  years — me  to  go  back 
in  me  own  kitchen  an'  work  fer  wages  like 
a  Chinee —  Sure  it's  haird,  Misther  Clem 
ent — so  'tis — not  that  I  blame  you — but  it's 
haird." 

Then  Clement  began  to  talk,  and  though 
a  man  of  few  words  ordinarily,  he  could  at 
need  "  Charm  the  bird  in  the  bush,"  Biddy 
said.  He  began  with  the  cunning  indirect 
ness  of  a  maniac. 

"  Dan — did  you  notice  that  rock  to-day? 
It  was  getting  softer  and  more  moist,  the 
last  two  feet  almost  trickled  with  moisture. 
Do  you  know  what  that  means?  It  means 
we're  approaching  The  Golden  Eagle's 


WITCH'S    GOLD  21 

vein.  I  feel  absolutely  sure  of  it.  The 
rock  is  the  same,  and  you  know  they  struck 
water  about  twenty  feet  before  they 
touched  the  vein." 

He  went  on  and  on  dilating  upon  all  the 
successes  of  the  camp — how  men  had  struck 
it  rich  with  the  last  despairing  stroke  of  the 
pick.  All  the  minute  indications  of  change 
in  the  rock  he  summed  up,  while  Biddy  for 
got  to  weep  and  Dan  lifted  his  head.  It 
was  a  marvellous  address.  It  had  in  it  the 
allurement  and  the  fascination  of  a  gam 
bler's  plan  for  breaking  a  faro  bank.  At 
last  he  said: 

"All  is  not  lost  yet.  Biddy  can  earn 
enough  to  feed  us  on,  if  we  keep  to  rye 
bread  and  beans,  and  we  can  sleep  in  the 
shack." 

"  But  about  powder — and  the  black- 
smithing?  "  said  Dan. 


22  WITCH'S    GOLD 

Clement  smiled. 

"  You  forget  your  little  cocoanut  bank." 

Dan  let  out  a  shout. 

"  Sure — go  bring  it,  girl." 

Biddy  looked  strangely  perturbed. 

"Now  Danny  darlin' — don't  be  fer 
takin'  that  which  we  laid  up  agin  a  rainy 
day.  Sure  it's  bad  luck  to  use  it  fer  this 
hole  in  the  ground —  May  the  divil  fly  off 
widit!" 

"  Biddy,  the  silver's  mine.  I  tuk  it  out 
o'  meself — it's  the  price  of  drinks  I  didn't 
take.  Go  fetch  it— sure!  " 

"  Dan,  it's  gone,"  Biddy  faltered  out,  red 
and  nervous. 

"  Gone  is  it?  Where  gone?  Who  tuck 
it?" 

"  I  did,  Dannie." 

"  Ye  did?  Fer  what  now?  Spake 
out!" 


WITCH'S    GOLD  23 

"  Sure  Mrs.  Mcllheny  was  wantin'  me 
to  go  in  wid  her " 

"Ferwhat?" 

"  A  lottery  ticket,  darlin'." 

"Howly  turf!"  gasped  Dan.  "A  lot 
tery  ticket,  an'  the  two  of  us  livin'  on  bread 
an'  water.  How  much  was  it? — ye  oma- 
dhaun!" 

"  Twinty  dollars  wantin'  a  quarter — 
which  she  lint  me." 

Dan  went  off  into  unintelligibility  of 
Irish  invective,  while  Clement  looked  at 
them  both  in  silence.  At  last  he  said: 

"  Did  you  draw  anything?  " 

"  Faith,  I  don't  know.  I  f ergot  about  it 
entirely." 

Dan  flung  his  hat  on  the  floor.  This  was 
too  much. 

"Well  of  all  the  gawks  in  the  warrld! 
Where  is  it?" 


24  WITCH'S    GOLD 

She  brought  the  ticket  out  much  cast 
down. 

Clement  seized  it. 

"  Let  me  take  it.  I'll  find  out  what 
you've  drawn." 

He  dashed  out  of  the  house  and  was  gone 
nearly  half  an  hour.  He  returned  in  tri 
umph. 

"We're  all  right!"  he  cried.  "One  of 
the  tickets  drew  thirty  dollars."  He  said 
thirty  dollars  in  tones  which  made  it  seem 
like  a  thousand.  "  I  got  Kennedy  to  ad 
vance  me  twenty  dollars."  He  laid  down 
four  shining  gold  pieces.  "  That  will 
carry  us  a  long  way  into  the  rock." 

His  will  was  sovereign  yet — they  ac 
cepted  his  command,  and  Biddy  went  to 
work  in  the  kitchen  as  cook,  and  Dan  went 
back  to  the  mine  to  slave  at  his  pick. 

In  a  few  days  they  had  only  one  of  the 


WITCH'S    GOLD  25 

coins  left,  and  as  they  were  going  up  the 
trail  one  morning,  Dan  took  it  from  his 
pocket  to  emphasise  some  remark  about  their 
final  stroke  of  work,  and  in  making  a  wild 
gesture  it  slipped  from  his  stiffened  fingers 
and  rolled  into  the  grass  of  the  hillside. 

They  spent  hours  in  agonising  search  for 
that  coin.  They  combed  the  grass  with 
their  fingers,  and  at  last  literally  lifted  the 
turf  and  sifted  it.  It  was  late  in  the  after 
noon  before  they  found  it,  and  Clement  im 
mediately  used  it  in  purchasing  giant 
powder  in  order  to  make  sure  of  it. 

By  Saturday  night  their  powder  was 
gone,  they  had  no  food,  their  tools  were 
worn  out,  and  they  were  thin  and  bent  with 
their  terrible  labour.  They  were  now  at 
their  last  ditch ;  nothing  remained  but  to  se 
cure  another  member  of  the  firm  or  quit — 
one  seemed  almost  as  desperate  as  the  other. 


26  WITCH'S    GOLD 

To  secure  a  fourth  member  of  the  firm 
was  very  difficult  indeed,  for  winter  was 
upon  them  and  there  were  fewer  "  tender- 
feet  "  in  the  camp,  and  no  one  but  a  very 
inexperienced  person  would  pay  good 
money  to  become  a  part  owner  in  a  damp 
hole  in  the  ground. 

That  night  Dan  and  Clement  started  out. 
Clement  arranged  it. 

"  Now  Dan,  I'll  go  down  street,  you  go 
up.  Try  every  man  you  know.  Don't 
skip  a  soul.  We  must  raise  some  money  to 
night.  I  hate  to  let  anybody  in  now  to  reap 
the  reward  of  all  our  labour — but  it  must  be 
done." 

It  was  really  a  hard  task  which  Clement 
set  for  himself — to  admit  even  in  thought 
some  other  man  into  his  mine  when  they 
were  so  close  upon  riches.  He  had  always 
been  a  man  of  powerful  intuitional  percep- 


WITCH'S    GOLD  27 

tion.  Working  alone  deep  in  the  earth  had 
made  him  still  more  subjective.  All  along 
he  had  heard  little  voices  call  him  from  the 
solid  wall  of  rock.  He  had  visions  there  in 
the  dark,  and  after  they  met  and  passed 
the  water  vein,  he  imagined  he  could  hear  in 
its  plashing  the  words :  "  Merrily  pick, 
pick.  Merrily  pick,  pack."  He  had  spok 
en  to  Dan  of  this  conviction,  but  his  belief 
in  their  nearness  to  the  pay-rock  was  so 
strong  he  could  not  bring  himself  to  speak 
to  a  single  one  of  his  acquaintances  about  his 
need  of  funds.  For  an  hour  he  walked  up 
and  down  the  street,  silent,  aimless,  busied 
with  plans  for  going  forward  without  tak 
ing  on  another  partner. 

He  dared  not  go  back  to  Dan  without 
doing  something,  however,  and  at  last  wan 
dered  into  a  saloon  before  making  final 
choice  of  subject.  It  was  nearly  eleven 


28  WITCH'S    GOLD 

o'clock,  and  the  crowd  had  thinned  out  and 
the  room  was  quiet.  At  one  of  the  tables  a 
dark,  small  young  fellow  was  playing  rou 
lette  with  four  or  five  gamblers  looking  on. 
He  had  gambled  heavily  and  had  already 
won  several  hundred  dollars.  His  face  was 
drawn  with  excitement  and  Clement  stood 
watching  him,  saying  to  himself,  "  He'll 
lose  it  all.  It'll  all  go  back  to  the  banker. 
If  only  we  had  it!  It  might  make  him 
thousands  if  he  came  in  with  us."  The 
sight  of  the  money  led  to  calculations  of  the 
powder  and  tools  it  would  buy  and  an  im 
pulse  to  speak  to  this  little  man  came  to 
Clement.  Laying  his  hand  on  the  stran 
ger's  arm  the  miner  said  firmly:  "Quit 
right  now.  You  will  never  have  a  better 
chance." 

His  voice  had  the  ring  of  command,  of  un 
assailable  integrity  and  good-will  and  in- 


WITCH'S    GOLD  29 

stantly  impressed  the  young  fellow,  for  he 
rose  with  a  sigh  of  relief  saying: 

"  I  guess  you're  right.  They  say  a  man 
never  quits  when  he's  a  winner,  but  I'll 
show  'em  I  can.  I'd  about  made  up  my 
mind  to  do  it."  He  cashed  in,  and 
with  a  grin  of  triumph  walked  off  with 
Clement. 

Neither  spoke  until  they  had  passed  to 
the  opposite  side  of  the  street.  Then  the 
stranger  spoke  and  in  his  tone  was  some 
thing  unpleasant. 

"  You  look  the  right  kind.  Where  do 
you  hail  from? " 

"  I  am  from  Iowa,"  assured  Clement  with 
effort. 

"  Iowa?     So  do  I.     What  part?  " 

Ultimately,  much  against  his  will,  Clem 
ent  presented  the  case  of ff  The  Biddy  "  and 
offered  a  quarter  interest  therein. 


30  WITCH'S    GOLD 

The  young  fellow,  whose  name  was  El- 
dred,  seemed  taken  with  the  idea. 

"  If  your  mine  is  what  you  say  it  is,  I'll 
go  in.  That's  what  I'm  out  here  for." 

"  You  can  ask  Matt  Kelly  or  any  of  the 
best  prospectors  to-morrow,  and  if  they 
don't  say  it's  all  right,  I  won't  say  a  word 
more."  And  with  this  they  said  good  night 
and  Clement  went  to  Dan  with  the  news 
of  what  he  had  done.  "  I  don't  like  the 
man,"  said  he,  "but  he  is  going  to  come 


in." 


Eldred  was  early  over  next  day  and  Kelly 
out  of  the  goodness  of  his  heart  went  with 
the  tenderfoot  to  show  him  the  mine  and  to 
give  an  opinion  as  to  its  value.  "  Without 
doubt,  if  you  push  deep  enough,  you'll 
tap  The  Golden  Eagle  vein,"  he  said,  "  and 
as  for  Clement,  he's  as  reliable  as  anny  man 
with  his  mind  set  on  finding  gold." 


WITCH'S    GOLD  31 

On  the  strength  of  Kelly's  words  Eldred 
came  in  with  four  hundred  dollars,  and 
ff  The  Biddy  **  resounded  again  with  ham 
mer-strokes  and  with  dull  thunderings  and 
eruptions  of  smoke  at  intervals. 


CHAPTER  III 

FT!  HEY  had  used  up  the  four  hundred 
J-  dollars  and  were  again  working  on 
credit,  when  one  morning  after  the  first 
blast,  Clement  came  out  of  the  tunnel  hold 
ing  in  each  hand  a  lump  of  ore.  He  stag 
gered  like  a  man  paralysed  with  bad  whis 
key.  His  legs  wobbled.  '  There  she  is," 
he  whispered,  offering  a  piece  of  the  ore 
to  his  partners.  Dan  snatched  it  from  him 
as  a  starving  man  seizes  bread. 

"There  she  is— God  bless  her!"  he 
shouted,  kissing  the  rock  in  very  ecstacy  of 
faith.  Rushing  a  sample  to  the  assayer's 
office  they  all  hung  about,  forgetting  time, 
food,  everything,  till  he  yielded  up  the  little 


WITCH'S    GOLD  33 

shining  button  which  lay  in  the  cup's  bot 
tom. 

"  It  yields  about  four  hundred  and  sev 
enty  dollars  to  the  ton,"  he  said  impassively. 

The  three  men  looked  at  each  other  and 
crept  away  like  a  band  of  burglars  caught 
by  the  dawn. 

"  Boys,"  said  Clement  in  a  half  whisper, 
"  we've  struck  it  heavy,  but  we've  got  to 
look  out  or  we'll  have  a  dozen  contests  to 
fight.  We  mustn't  let  anybody  know  what 
we've  got — not  now — not  till  we've  sold 
some  ore! " 

Thereafter  they  toiled  and  sweat  to  se 
cretly  mine  a  car  load  of  the  ore.  They 
sacked  it  and  hauled  it  down  to  the  car  at 
night.  If  they  could  but  sell  a  car  load, 
they'd  have  money  enough  to  fight  any 
contest  out  for  a  few  days  at  least.  Night 
after  night  when  the  moon  was  set  they 


34  WITCH'S    GOLD 

loaded  their  wagon  with  ore  and  drove 
down  to  the  railway — moving  stealthily, 
seeking  the  shadow — and  at  last  they 
shipped;  and  thereafter  they  counted  the 
hours  till  they  should  be  able  to  hear  from 
the  car.  They  could  not  work — they  could 
scarcely  eat — they  merely  waited,  waited. 

At  last  the  letter  came  and  they  all  clus 
tered  around  while  Clement  read  off  the  re 
sult — so  much  gross  weight,  so  much  tare, 
so  much  lead,  so  much  silver  and  so  much 
gold. 

"What's  that?"  asked  Eldred. 

Clement  bent  to  the  page  again. 

"  That's  what  it  says.  Six  dollars  to  the 
ton." 

"  There's  something  wrong  there." 

"  Wrong?  "  shouted  Dan.  "  We're  bun 
coed.  They  stole  it.  Didn't  every  assay 
show  over  four  hundred? " 


WITCH'S    GOLD  35 

"  They  couldn't  do  that.  There's  some 
mistake,"  Clement  stated.  "  Some  clerk 
has  blundered." 

But  there  was  no  mistake.  The  yield  of 
gold  bore  no  ratio  to  the  assay.  For  the 
second  car  load  they  got  hardly  a  sufficient 
return  to  pay  for  the  expense  of  mining. 
Thereupon  they  sent  a  car  load  to  another 
mill — the  result  was  the  same.  Then  they 
tried  the  cyanide  and  other  processes — the 
returns  varied  somewhat,  but  in  general 
each  car  load  fell  far  below  the  assay. 
There  was  not  even  day  wages  in  the  last 
shipment  they  made.  The  assayer  upon 
whom  they  fell  was  unshakable.  "  The 
gold  was  in  the  sample.  I  don't  know 
where  you  got  that." 

Biddy  and  Dan  were  deeply  discouraged, 
and  Eldred  was  furious.  He  seemed  to  con 
sider  Clement  culpable  some  way. 


36  WITCH'S    GOLD 

Clement  himself  was  mystified  but  by  no 
means  defeated.  At  college  he  had  been  a 
good  student  in  chemistry  and  mineralogy, 
and  he  now  sat  down  and  pondered  the  prob 
lem.  He  consulted  every  expert  he  knew. 
He  went  down  and  watched  the  ore  go 
through  the  mill,  to  see  if  he  could  not  dis 
cover  the  leakage.  All  to  no  purpose. 
Some  mysterious  element  in  the  rock  pre 
vented  the  gold  from  fusing — kept  it  sol 
uble,  perhaps,  so  that  it  escaped  with  the 
water.  On  the  night  of  his  return,  they  all 
gathered  around  him  while  he  told  them  of 
his  investigation  at  the  mill. 

"  I  couldn't  see  anything  out  of  the  ordi 
nary  in  the  amalgam,"  he  said.  "  It  lay  out 
there  on  the  plates  as  fine  as  anything  you 
ever  saw.  I  put  some  in  a  bottle  to  show 
you."  Here  he  produced  the  phial  and 
started  away  from  it  in  amazement.  In- 


WITCH'S    GOLD  37 

stead  of  being  the  silvery  semi-solid  he  had 
expected,  the  contents  of  the  bottle  had 
changed  to  a  yellow-green  liquid. 

Dan  laughed  at  first,  but  Clement's  word 
less  astonishment  and  perplexity  sobered 
him.  "  Phwat  is  it,  boy?  Ye  look  like  a 
man  bitten." 

Clement  solemnly  answered:  "Boys,  I 
swear  to  you  when  I  put  that  in  there  it  was 
as  fine  a  quicksilver  amalgam  as  you  ever 
saw.  Look  at  it  now.  It's  green  as  grass. 
See  for  yourself,"  he  added  holding  it  to 
ward  Dan.  The  big  Irishman  drew  back 
as  if  it  were  a  rattlesnake. 

"  Go  awn  wid  it!  "  he  shouted.  "It's  be 
witched!" 

Biddy  crossed  herself  and  whispered 
hoarsely : 

"That's  it— it's  witches  gould— that's 
what  it  is!  I'll  have  no  more  to  do  wid  it. 


38  WITCH'S    GOLD 

The    divil's   in   it.      Take   it   away.      It's 
witches'  gould." 

They  all  sat  about  in  blank  despair,  their 
eyes  fixed  upon  the  mysterious  element- 
awed  and  baffled — all  but  Clement,  whose 
eyes  showed  a  mind  at  grapple  with  an  in 
ternal  problem. 

"  I'll  never  give  up,"  he  quietly  an 
nounced. 

"  I'm  out  of  it,"  decided  Dan.  "  I'll  go  no 
more  into  that  hole.  The  divil  is  in  it  sure!  " 

"  I  don't  believe  the  gold  was  ever  in  the 
rock,"  said  Eldred,  ever  ready  to  criticise — 
to  complain.  *  You've  been  fooling  us." 
He  was  working  himself  into  a  fury  when 
Dan  silenced  him. 

"  I  never  give  up,"  repeated  Clement. 
'What  will  you  take  for  your  shares?" 

"An  old  hat — a  pipe  o'  tobaccy — any 
thing  at  all,"  growled  Dan.  "  It's  ill-luck  I 


WITCH'S    GOLD  39 

see  fer  the  man  that  goes  into  that  mine! " 
But  neither  he  nor  Eldred  believed  that 
Clement  would  or  could  go  on.  "  Come 
on  Biddy,  me  darlin',  it's  us  to  the  samp 
heap  again,"  Dan  added  tenderly  and  so  in 
silence  and  deep  depression  the  three  went 
away  leaving  Clement  alone  with  his  green 
mystery. 

All  night  he  sat  pondering  over  his  text 
books,  and  examining  the  liquid.  At  last  he 
began  to  weaken. 

"  Am  I  never  to  succeed?  Am  I  always 
to  follow  close  on  my  fleeing  fortune,  and 
never  grasp  even  the  hem  of  her  gar 
ment?  "  he  asked  himself,  and  with  the 
asking  his  head  drooped  forward  and  lay 
upon  his  arm.  He  was  at  the  point  where 
nothing  could  help  him  but  sleep. 

Richard  Clement  was  the  strong  stem  of 


40  WITCH'S    GOLD 

a  decaying  New  England  family  tree.  He 
was  not  merely  the  head  of  his  family,  he 
was  its  only  producer,  and  it  was  because 
of  his  feeling  of  responsibility  that  he  had 
taken  up  this  venture  in  the  mountain  vein. 
He  had  small  credit,  for  the  cautious  old 
farmers  of  his  native  village  had  no  faith 
in  mines.  His  brother  was  just  making 
but  a  bare  living  and  could  not  come  to  his 
aid.  There  was  but  one  thing  to  do.  The 
homestead  must  be  divided  and  his  own  share 
sold. 

He  had  promised  never  to  do  this.     He 
liked  to  think  that  there  was  one  place  of 

safe  anchorage,  one  little  rood  of  ground  to 
i 

which  he  had  a  deep-laid  right — but  firmly 
believing  in  his  ability  to  make  this  vein  yield 
up  his  gold  he  was  prepared  to  make  sacri 
fice  to  his  faith.  A  few  days  later  he  wrote 
to  his  brother  directing  the  sale  of  his  share 


WITCH'S    GOLD  41 

of  the  farm,  and  with  this  money  bought 
out  Eldred,  paying  him  back  all  he  put  in — 
with  which  sum  he  professed  to  be  satisfied. 
To  Dan  and  Biddy  he  returned  so  much 
as  he  could  spare,  and  gave  his  note  for  the 
rest,  and  so  sole  owner  of  the  mystic  vein 
of  ore,  he  sat  down  to  the  task  of  resolv 
ing  it. 


CHAPTER   IV; 

MANITOU  SPRINGS  is  a  village  in 
a  canon,  out  of  which  rise  two  won 
derful  springs  of  water  whose  virtues  are 
known  throughout  the  world.  The  canon 
itself  depends  from  the  breast  of  Pike's 
Peak  like  a  fold  in  the  robe  of  a  king.  Pike 
is  indeed  a  monarch,  lord  of  the  vast  ram 
part  range  and  sentinel  of  a  thousand  miles 
of  plain.  The  clouds  are  seldom  dense 
enough  to  cloak  his  summit,  and  from  the 
hot  scorching  prairie  to  the  east  the  toiling 
husbandmen  turn  to  the  mountain's  cool, 
snowy  heights  with  longing  eyes.  His 
crest  is  a  lighthouse  of  storms,  a  thing  stead 
fast  in  the  midst  of  change. 

The  village  and  its  life  centres  around 


WITCH'S    GOLD  43 

the  springs  which  have  such  quality  that  the 
Utes  who  once  drank  of  them  called  them 
"  Sweetwater."  And  each  month  in  the 
year,  but  especially  in  July  and  August,  the 
tired,  weary  and  uneasy  ones  from  the  burn 
ing  land  below  come  up  to  sit  in  the  deep 
shadow  of  the  peak  and  to  drink  copiously 
of  the  health-giving  water. 

Not  all  are  sick  and  weary,  for  many 
come  because  the  mountains  are  beautiful 
and  because  the  canons  call  and  the  cloud- 
shadows  have  tales  to  tell.  Those  who  are 
tired  of  the  heat  and  light  and  monotony 
of  the  plain,  come  in  search  of  that  which 
completes  their  world — the  heights — and  the 
union  of  the  level  lands  with  the  great  peaks 
satisfies  and  heals. 

Besides  these  good  things  there  are  other 
and  more  compelling  joys.  Young  people 
meet  around  the  spring  to  flash  most  inti- 


44  WITCH'S    GOLD 

mate  messages  across  their  cups  of  sparkling 
water,  and  love  is  ever  present  and  ever  ac 
tive  in  the  throngs  and  when  the  moon 
shines  on  windless  nights  and  music  echoes 
across  the  canon  and  the  laughter  of  girls 
drowns  the  ripple  of  the  streams  the  springs 
are  in  fairyland.  Labour  seems  far  away 
and  the  world  a  perpetual  love  fete  and 
summer  time. 

Among  the  people  thronging  about  the 
spring  that  July  night  Richard  Clement, 
the  big  miner,  felt  out  of  place.  He  was  not 
at  the  springs  for  his  health's  sake,  though 
there  were  certainly  signs  of  age  in  his  hair 
and  lines  of  care  on  his  strong,  firm  face. 
His  strength,  his  resolution,  his  perfect 
health  were  noticeable  qualities — in  fact,  he 
did  not  care  to  shout  his  reasons  for  coming. 
For  the  first  time  since  the  installation  of 
the  new  machinery  in  his  mine,  The  Witch, 


WITCH'S    GOLD  45 

he  had  been  able  to  lift  his  head  and  look 
about  him,  and  with  this  leisure  came  a  sud 
den  longing  to  rest  and  to  mix  with  his  kind 
once  more,  and  in  the  trail  of  this  desire  came 
pleasant  memories  of  the  life  at  the  springs 
which  he  had  glimpsed  once  or  twice  on  a 
swift  flight  to  the  capital. 

Deep  in  his  secret  heart  rested  a  hope 
(wordless  as  yet)  that  somehow,  somewhere 
among  those  who  came  to  the  springs,  he 
would  see  again  a  girl- face  that  had  troubled 
him  for  a  year.  He  had  arranged  his  vaca 
tion  for  July  not  because  it  was  ever  hot  at 
the  mine,  but  because  it  was  in  July  that  the 
springs  swarmed  most  alluringly  with  wom 
en,  and  because  it  was  in  July  that  he  had 
seen,  only  for  a  moment,  that  beautiful 
young  visitor.  It  would  have  troubled  him 
had  any  one  accused  him  of  deliberately  set 
ting  out  to  find  a  mate,  and  it  had  been  much 


46  WITCH'S    GOLD 

easier  to  think  of  mixing  with  his  kind  while 
deep  in  his  mine — than  here  among  the 
laughing,  bustling  throng.  There  were  so 
many  women  in  the  world,  and  he  was  shy! 
He  had  always  been  a  self -unconscious 
man,  and  hardly  realised  how  widely  his 
name  had  gone  over  the  land  as  the  possessor 
of  millions.  He  supposed  himself  an  unno 
ticed  atom  as  he  stood  there,  a  little  outside 
the  flow  of  the  stream  of  health-seekers  and 
pleasure-seekers,  but  in  this  he  was  mistaken, 
for  he  really  made  a  striking  and  very  hand 
some  figure,  and  many  asked  about  him.  He 
had  the  air  of  sombrely  looking  down  upon 
his  kind — of  disdainfully  studying  them  in 
their  trivial  amusements,  and  yet,  at  the  mo 
ment,  he  was  regretting  his  inability  to  meet 
and  speak  with  the  girls  whose  beauty  ap 
pealed  to  him  as  of  greater  value  than  his 
jnine, 


WITCH'S    GOLD  47 

The  sun  had  gone  behind  the  high  peaks 
to  the  west,  and  a  delicious,  dry  coolness  was 
in  the  canon,  and  the  walks  were  closely 
thronged  with  what  seemed  to  him  to  be 
a  very  fashionable  and  leisurely  company — 
so  long  had  he  been  absent  from  people 
either  modish  or  easeful.  He  felt  himself 
hopelessly  outside  all  this  youthful  brilliancy 
and  merriment.  The  maidens  were  so 
young,  so  care- free,  so  full  of  laughing  de 
fiance  of  the  world  that  he  feared  them. 
How  could  a  man  of  his  age  and  character 
approach  such  delicate,  flashing  butterflies? 
Their  beauty  rendered  him  wistful,  their 
youth  made  him  sad. 

"  To  them  I  am  an  old  man,"  he  said,  and 
a  desolate  feeling  swept  over  him.  "  I  have 
waited  too  long,"  and  turned  his  eyes  from 
the  gay  dress  of  the  women  to  a  study  of 
the  men. 


48  WITCH'S    GOLD 

He  perceived  at  length  that  they  were  not 
all  of  the  same  conditions.  Rough,  brown 
cowboys  from  La  Junta  and  Cajon  were 
among  them,  and  miners  in  tall  boots,  down 
from  the  gulches  for  the  night,  stalked  side 
by  side  with  business  men  from  Denver  and 
Chicago. 

As  he  pondered  them,  his  memory  fresh 
ened  and  he  came  to  understand  them  better. 
He  analysed  them  into  familiar  types.  Here 
were  a  banker  and  his  wife  from  Pueblo — 
the  wife  fussy  and  consequential,  the  hus 
band  coldly  dignified.  There  a  merchant 
from  some  Nebraska  town — he  rustic  of  ex 
terior  while  his  children,  dainty  of  dress 
and  very  pretty,  seemed  the  bloom  on  the 
gnarled  limbs  of  an  old  tree.  Occasionally 
a  group  of  college-bred  girls  came  up  with 
out  escort — alert,  self -helpful  and  serene. 
They  saw  Clement  at  once,  and  studied  him 


WITCH'S    GOLD  49 

carefully  as  they  drank  their  beauty  cup  at 
the  circular  bench  before  the  spring.  No 
good  looking  man  escaped  their  notice  and 
frank  comment.  "  He  can  have  me/'  said 
one  with  humorous  exaggeration  of  her 
admiration — and  Clement  who  overheard 
her  did  not  know  that  she  referred  to  him. 

And  so  they  came  in  varied  stream,  all 
Western,  and  of  the  well-to-do  condition 
for  the  larger  part,  good-humoured,  patient, 
and  on  the  whole  quietly  joyous,  notwith 
standing  the  invalids. 

The  deft  boy  swung  the  glasses  of  water 
on  his  tripartite  dipper  with  ceaseless  splash 
and  clink.  There  was  a  pleasant  murmur 
of  talk  in  which  an  Eastern  listener  would 
have  heard  the  "  r  "  sound  well-defined,  the 
lingering  effect  of  the  Scotch  and  German 
pioneers. 

A  good  many  couples  were  seated  about 


50  WITCH'S    GOLD 

the  pavilion  on  the  benches  and  railings,  and 
old  men  in  chin  whiskers  with  noses  pointed 
toward  each  other  could  be  seen  discussing 
governmental  policies  with  that  fiercely  de 
terminate  quality  which  marks  the  local 
politician,  while  their  plump  old  wives  in 
rumpled  black  silk  gowns  kept  at  least  one 
alert  eye  upon  their  daughters. 

Each  loiterer  had  fed,  had  taken  his 
draught  of  healing  water — and  this  was  the 
hour  of  pleasant  gossip  and  repose. 

Clement  fell  at  last  to  analysing  the 
action  of  the  boy  who  supplied  the  water 
at  the  pool,  slamming  the  glasses  into  the 
water,  and  setting  them  on  the  bench  with 
a  click  as  regular  as  a  pump.  Occasionally, 
however,  he  lost  his  mechanical  indifference 
and  handled  his  goblets  as  if  they  contained 
nectar,  indicating  thus  his  most  generous 
patrons.  Once  he  stopped  and  dipped  the 


"Her  face  was  thin,  and  her  head  shapely,  but  her  eyes! 
They  burned  like  rarest  topaz — deep,  dark  and  sad." 


WITCH'S    GOLD 

glass  into  the  pool  with  his  own  hand — a 
doubtful  action — and  extended  it  with  a 
bow  to  a  young  lady  who  said  "  Thank 
you"  so  sweetly  that  he  blushed  and  stam 
mered  in  reply. 

This  drew  Clement's  attention,  and  as  the 
young  girl  lifted  the  glass  in  her  slim  hand 
he  wondered  how  she  had  escaped  his  notice 
for  a  single  moment — so  pale,  so  fragile  and 
so  lovely  was  she.  She  had  the  purity,  the 
translucence  of  a  mountain  columbine. 
Her  face  was  thin  and  her  head  shapely,  but 
her  eyes  burned  like  rarest  topaz — deep 
and  dark  and  sad — unutterably  sad  and  in 
a  curious  sense  unseeing. 

A  woman  at  Clement's  side  murmured  to 
a  companion,  with  a  sigh : 

"  There's  that  consumptive  girl  again. 
She  hasn't  long  to  live,  but  isn't  she  too 
lovely  to  die!" 


52  WITCH'S    GOLD 

At  this  moment  the  girl  turned — almost 
as  if  having  overheard  the  doomful  words, 
and  fixing  her  eyes  upon  Clement  looked 
upon  him  for  a  long  time — impersonally  as 
if  he  were  a  shadow.  He  shivered  with  a 
sudden  wave  of  feeling  which  was  not  awe, 
nor  compassion,  nor  love,  but  a  mixture  of 
all  of  these.  In  his  soul  rose  the  subtlest 
sadness  in  all  the  world — the  sadness  of  a 
strong  man  who  looks  upon  a  beautiful 
young  girl  who  is  dying. 

Extremest  languor  was  in  her  every 
movement.  She  was  dressed  in  dark,  soft 
garments — very  simple  and  graceful  in  ef 
fect,  and  her  bearing  was  that  of  one  accus 
tomed  to  the  willing  service  of  others. 
Someone  spoke  to  her  and  she  smiled  in 
reply,  but  her  smile  was  sadder  than  her 
eyes  which  had  in  them  the  death-shadow. 

Clement's  action,   the  unwavering  self- 


WITCH'S    GOLD  53 

forgetful  intentness  of  his  look,  at  last 
seemed  to  draw  her  soul  to  her  eyes  and  she 
faced  him  for  an  instant  longer  with  a  look 
that  searched  him  like  a  flaming  light,  then 
turned  away  and  took  the  arm  of  an  elderly 
gentleman  who  stood  beside  her.  She 
moved  slowly,  as  a  convalescent  walks  when 
for  the  first  time  she  is  permitted  a  short 
stroll  in  the  outdoor  air,  and  so  passed  from 
sight  among  the  strollers  in  the  street. 

The  big  miner  roused  and  tense  stood  for 
a  moment  in  doubt  hesitating  whether  to 
follow  or  not — a  sudden  singular  pain  in  his 
heart,  as  if  he  were  losing  something  very 
close  to  his  life.  The  face  he  had  so  long 
carried  in  his  heart  was  gone  in  an  instant, 
displaced  by  the  melancholy  charm  of  this 
sick  girl's  smile  and  deep  internal  glance. 

Obeying  the  impulse  to  follow,  he  moved 
on  into  the  path,  keeping  just  out  of  ear- 


54  WITCH'S    GOLD 

shot,  careless  of  observation.  As  he  made 
way  through  the  crowd  he  grew  keenly 
aware  of  his  heavy  limbs,  of  his  great  height, 
of  his  swinging,  useless  hands,  so  long  had 
it  been  since  he  had  mingled  with  those  in 
holiday  attire.  He  grew  more  cautious  as 
he  went  on,  fearing  someone  might  suspect 
him  of  following  the  girl — and  yet  some 
how  he  wished  her  to  know. 

Once  she  turned  and  looked  back,  but  was 
too  far  away  for  him  to  discern  the  expres 
sion  of  her  face.  That  she  was  vaguely 
hoping  to  see  him  again  he  could  not 
know. 

He  followed  the  father  and  daughter  till 
they  turned  in  at  the  ladies'  entrance  of  the 
principal  hotel.  Not  daring  to  follow  them 
there,  he  kept  on  to  the  main  entrance,  ar 
riving  in  time  to  see  the  girl  again  as  she 
paused  a  moment  before  attempting  the 


WITCH'S    GOLD  55 

stairway.  It  was  pitiful  to  see  her  making 
light  of  her  weakness  even  as  she  waited  for 
strength  to  lift  her  foot.  She  smiled  at  her 
father  while  she  pressed  one  slim  hand 
against  her  bosom  gasping  for  breath. 

Clement  longed  to  take  her  in  his  arms 
and  carry  her  up  the  stairway — it  seemed 
the  thing  most  worth  doing  in  all  the  world 
at  that  moment — but  he  could  only  lean 
against  the  desk  and  see  them  go  slowly 
stair  by  stair  out  of  sight,  his  hands  clenched 
in  involuntary  effort. 

"  Who  are  they? "  he  asked  of  the  clerk 
who  was  also  watching  the  girl  with  deep 
interest. 

"  Chicago  merchant,  G.  B.  Ross.  That's 
his  daughter.  She's  pretty  far  gone — con 
sumption,  I  reckon.  He  didn't  bring  her 
here  none  too  soon.  Her  lungs  are  clean 
eaten  out,  they  say.  It  looks  tough  to  see 


56  WITCH'S    GOLD 

a  girl  like  that  go  off.  You'd  think 
now " 

Clement  did  not  remain  to  hear  the  clerk 
moralise,  but  went  immediately  to  his  own 
hotel,  paid  his  bill,  and  ordered  his  baggage 
sent  to  the  house  in  which  Mr.  Ross  had 
taken  shelter.  He  wondered  at  himself  for 
this  overpowering  interest  in  a  sick  girl,  and 
at  his  plan  to  see  her  again,  but  when  he 
was  interested,  he  was  accustomed  to  move 
largely  and  decide  promptly. 

He  reasoned  that  he  would  be  able  to  see 
her  at  breakfast  time,  provided  she  came 
down  to  breakfast,  and  provided  he  hit 
upon  the  same  hour  of  eating.  He  began 
to  calculate  upon  her  probable  hours.  She 
occupied  his  thought  completely — all  his 
other  interests  were  swept  away — were  as 
if  they  had  never  been. 

He  struck  off  up  the  canon  where  no 


WITCH'S    GOLD  57 

sound  was,  other  than  the  roar  of  the  swift 
little  stream  which  seemed  to  lift  its  voice 
in  wilder  clamour  as  the  night  fell.  Its 
presence  helped  him  to  think  out  his  situa 
tion.  He  had  grown  self -analytical  during 
his  life  in  the  camp,  and  had  come  to  believe 
in  many  strange  things  which  he  said  noth 
ing  about  to  any  friend  he  had. 

He  had  come  to  believe  in  fate  and  also 
in  intuition.  A  powerful  wish  to  do  he  now 
accounted  higher  than  reason.  That  is  to 
say,  if  a  strong  impulse  came  to  him  to  run 
a  shaft  in  a  certain  direction  he  always  fol 
lowed  the  impulse,  no  matter  if  his  reason 
declared  against  it.  The  hidden  and  un 
controllable  processes  of  his  mind  had  given 
him  the  secret  of  the  "  witches'  gold,"  had 
led  him  right  in  his  shafting  as  well  as  in 
his  selection  of  friends  and  assistants — had 
indeed  made  him  a  millionaire  at  thirty- 


58  WITCH'S    GOLD 

seven  years  of  age.  Therefore  he  had 
come  to  profoundly  value — perhaps  to  over 
value — the  intuitional  side  of  his  nature,  and 
to  put  aside  calm  reasoning,  which  was  a 
strange  habit  of  mind  for  a  business  man 
and  the  employer  of  many  men. 

Fate  was,  with  him,  luck  raised  to  a 
higher  power.  What  was  to  be  would  be; 
the  unexpected  happened;  the  expected, 
hoped  for,  laboured  for,  did  not  always  hap 
pen.  All  around  him  men  stumbled  upon 
mines,  while  other  men,  more  skillful,  more 
observant,  failed.  Therefore  he  had  come 
to  believe  that  the  man  who  depended  on  the 
five  ordinary  senses  alone,  was  a  poor  thing 
— gold  could  not  be  smelled  or  tasted  or 
reasoned  from  the  hills — but  it  could  be 
lured  forth  by  this  other  finer  sense  which 
is  of  the  mind  yet  beyond  the  mind.  There 
fore  was  it  quite  in  harmony  with  his  nature 


WITCH'S    GOLD  59 

that  he  should  be  absorbed  in  the  singular 
and  powerful  desire  to  seek  an  acquaintance 
with  the  poor  dying  girl. 

Dying!  At  that  word  he  rebelled.  God 
would  not  take  so  beautiful  a  creature  away 
from  earth;  men  needed  her  to  teach  them 
gentleness  and  submission.  He  had  a 
vision  of  her  lying  still  in  her  coffin,  with 
that  sweet  faint  smile  on  her  lips,  and  with 
this  vision  came  a  powerful  impulse  to  go 
to  her,  and  putting  aside  doctors  to  say  to 
her: 

"  I  am  the  one  to  help  you.  Come  with 
me  into  the  sunshine  and  be  healed." 

He  had  never  had  a  desire  to  heal  before, 
but  the  fact  that  it  was  definite  and  deep- 
seated  and  not  to  be  reasoned  with  fitted 
with  his  philosophy.  He  had  no  idle 
thoughts.  The  further  fact  that  nothing 
like  it  had  ever  come  to  him  up  to  this 


60  WITCH'S    GOLD 

moment,  became  each  moment  more  sig 
nificant. 

She  must  not  die!  The  wind,  the  moun 
tains,  the  clear  air,  the  good,  sweet  water, 
the  fragrant  pines,  the  splendid  sun — these 
things  must  help  her.  Feeling  the  mystery 
of  the  world  all  about  him,  with  the  flaming 
white  moonlight  falling  like  a  cataract  from 
the  deep  sky,  he  rose  to  his  feet  and  in  his 
heart  said  resolutely:  "  I  can  help  her  and 
I  will." 

Back  in  the  glare  of  the  hotel  rotunda, 
with  its  rows  of  bored  men  sitting  stolidly 
smoking,  idly  talking,  his  impulse  and  his 
resolution  seemed  unmanly  and  most  pre 
posterous.  It  is  so  easy  to  lose  faith  in  the 
elemental  in  the  midst  of  the  superficial  and 
the  ephemeral  of  our  daily  habit. 

Since  the  coming  of  his  great  wealth  he 
had  scarcely  allowed  himself  a  day's  vaca- 


WITCH'S    GOLD  61 

tion,  and  he  had  grown  ten  years  older  in 
that  time  and  yet  he  was  still  spoken  of  as 
a  young  man,  but  he  was  a  conscientious 
man,  and  the  possession  of  great  wealth  was 
not  without  its  gravities. 

He  had  intended  a  visit  to  his  home  on 
the  prairies,  but  that,  too,  had  passed  from 
his  mind — or  at  least  had  been  indefinitely 
subordinated  to  his  new  desire — the  desire 
to  know  and  to  help  this  dying  girl. 


CHAPTER   V 

THIS  miner  was  an  early  riser,  and  not 
withstanding  his  restless  night,  was 
astir  at  six.  The  whole  world  had  changed 
for  him.  The  mine  and  its  interests  seemed 
far  away.  Life  was  no  longer  a  concern  of 
ore  and  amalgams,  shafts  and  tunnels,  it  was 
a  question  of  when  he  should  see  again  a  cer 
tain  sad,  slender  woman  with  wan,  hope 
less  smile.  Her  face  was  no  longer  strange 
to  him,  so  continually,  so  searchingly  had 
he  thought  of  her  during  the  night.  It 
seemed  that  he  must  have  known  her 
through  long  years,  so  completely  had 
she  come  to  fill  his  life  and  inspire  his 
thoughts. 


WITCH'S    GOLD  63 

For  all  his  strength  and  tenacity  of  pur 
pose  he  was  a  mystic — a  poet,  prone  to  take 
what  is  contemptuously  called  a  sentimental 
view  of  man's  purpose  in  the  world,  and  now 
his  idealistic  self  was  completely  roused  and 
entirely  dominant. 

He  was  chilled  by  the  thought  that  she 
might  not  be  able  to  come  down  to  break 
fast  next  morning,  but  as  her  coming  was 
his  only  hope  of  seeing  her  he  clung  to  it. 
Eight  o'clock  seemed  to  him  to  be  the  latest 
hour  that  anyone  not  absolutely  bed-ridden 
would  think  of  breakfasting,  and  at  four 
minutes  past  the  hour  he  entered  the  dining 
room  with  studied  air  of  unconcern. 

The  negro  waiter  motioned  him  to  a  chair 
near  the  door,  but  Clement  pushed  sternly 
on  down  the  room  toward  a  group  seated  in 
the  light  of  one  of  the  sunny  windows. 
His  keen  eyes  had  instantly  discerned  the 


64  WITCH'S    GOLD 

presence  of  Mr.  Ross  and  his  daughter  at 
this  table. 

Taking  a  seat  at  a  table  next  to  theirs  the 
miner  brought  the  girl's  profile  between 
him  and  the  window,  and  the  light  striking 
through  her  hair  glorified  her  till  she  shone 
like  a  figure  in  a  church  window.  She  was 
of  those  whose  profile  is  forever  young. 
She  seemed  a  spirit,  a  being  not  concerned 
with  earth  as  she  dreamily  basked  in 
the  morning  glow.  Occasionally  her  lips 
moved  in  some  slow,  soft  answer,  but  her 
expression  remained  unchanged,  unenliv 
ened. 

Clement  was  more  deeply  moved  than 
ever  before  in  his  life,  and  yet  no  one  look 
ing  into  his  cold,  rather  stern  face  could  have 
discovered  a  trace  of  his  passion,  his  pain. 
Only  in  the  tremor  of  his  hands  was  his 
emotion  in  the  least  degree  visible. 


WITCH'S    GOLD  65 

His  eyes,  accustomed  only  to  rough 
women,  found  in  her  delicate,  sombre 
beauty  something  sacred,  something  of  the 
seraph. 

Her  face  was  very  thin,  and  her  slender 
neck  seemed  weary  with  the  weight  of  the 
heavy  masses  of  her  brown  hair.  Her 
hands  were  only  less  expressive  of  suffering 
than  her  face,  so  thin,  so  creamy- white  were 
they. 

The  father  bluff,  portly  and  irascible, 
bullied  the  waiter,  for  lack  of  other  vent  to 
his  anxiety. 

"  Waiter,  this  steak  is  burned — it's  hard 
as  sole  leather.  My  daughter  can't  eat 
food  like  this.  Take  it  back  and  bring 
something  fit  to  eat." 

The  girl's  sweet,  slow  reproof  reached  to 
Clement's  attentive  ear. 

"Please    don't,    father."     Then    to    the 


66  WITCH'S    GOLD 

waiter  she  said:  "  The  trouble  is  with  me. 
I  have  no  desire  for  food,"  and  the  per 
turbed  attendant  nodded  as  if  to  say,  "  I 
don't  mind  him,  Miss." 

The  father  turned  his  attention  to  the 
country,  determined  to  take  vengeance  on 
the  weather  at  any  rate. 

"Yes,  there  is  another  fraud — this  cli 
mate,  this  air.  I  was  told  it  would  help 
your  appetite,  and  here  you  are  with  less 
than  when  you  left  Hot  Springs.  If  I'd 
had  my  way " 

She  laid  a  restraining  hand  on  his  arm, 
and  when  he  turned  toward  her  his  eyes 
were  dim  with  tears.  He  blew  his  nose  and 
coughed,  and  looked  away,  ashamed  of  his 
weakness,  after  the  manner  of  men,  and 
thereafter  suffered  in  silence,  while  the  girl 
picked  at  her  steak  listlessly  and  with  pitiful 
feebleness. 


WITCH'S    GOLD  67 

Once  she  turned  and  looked  at  Clement, 
and  in  her  eyes  lay  a  mystical,  impersonal 
glow,  as  though  she  saw  him  far  off,  not  as 
an  individual  but  as  a  type  of  some  admira 
ble  elemental  creature.  She  wondered  at  his 
health,  his  power.  There  was  something 
reposeful  in  his  glance  as  well  as  in  the  lines 
of  his  head. 

He  could  not  fathom  her  attitude  toward 
him,  but  he  thought  he  perceived  in  her  every 
action  the  expression  of  a  soul  that  had  re 
linquished  its  hold  on  things  of  the  earth. 
Her  desire  to  live  was  no  longer  personal. 
All  that  she  did  was  for  her  father  and  her 
friends.  To  please  them  she  ate  and  drank 
and  slept — for  herself  she  was  world-weary, 
ready  to  lie  down  in  her  narrow  earth  bed 
and  sleep  forever,  free  from  effort,  from 
care. 

The  command  to  aid  her  came  to  Clement 


68  WITCH'S    GOLD 

again — came  as  clearly  as  if  a  voice  spoke 
to  him. 

"Speak  to  her.  Help  her.  Of  what 
value  is  your  strength,  your  health,  if  you 
cannot  aid  her? " 

He  looked  at  his  great  brown  hand,  at  its 
veins  throbbing  with  blood.  His  body  was 
a  great  reservoir  of  power — he  felt  it  to  be 
so.  His  will  was  strong  to  do.  Why 
should  she  die  when  he  had  so  much  life? 
"  I  would  open  my  veins  for  her — anything 
to  arrest  her  in  her  sure  descent  to  the 
grave."  Such  was  his  secret  thought. 

Meanwhile  his  common  sense  had  not  en 
tirely  fled  him.  He  perceived  that  they 
were  not  poor,  and  he  reflected  that  the 
father  had  already  tried  all  climates  and 
had  exhausted  all  the  resources  of  medical 
science;  and  that  he  had  quite  as  much  red 
blood  in  his  veins  as  any  other  man ;  and  was 


WITCH'S    GOLD  69 

as  ready  for  its  sacrifice  as  any  stranger 
could  be.  These  considerations  rendered 
the  miner  irresolute  and  kept  him  to  his  seat 
as  they  rose  to  go  out  upon  the  little  veranda 
which  overlooked  the  village  and  the  valley 
to  the  east.  He  could  see  that  the  girl  gazed 
out  upon  the  glory  of  the  scene  listlessly,  a 
tired  droop  in  her  shoulders,  and  a  realisa 
tion  of  this  filled  his  throat  with  pain. 

He  was  not  a  markedly  humble  person 
under  ordinary  conditions,  but  he  trembled 
now  under  the  weight  of  his  purpose.  He 
could  not  formulate  his  address  and  he 
dreaded  being  misunderstood,  but  he  was 
resolved  to  speak.  Manifestly  the  first 
step  was  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  the 
father. 

There  were  limits  to  his  insanity,  for  he 
did  not  follow  the  invalid  out  upon  the  ver 
anda,  as  he  had  thought  of  doing  when  she 


70  WITCH'S    GOLD 

left  the  room.  He  contented  himself  with 
waiting  in  the  lobby  till  Mr.  Ross  came 
down  a  few  minutes  later  to  get  a  cigar. 
Here  was  the  opportunity!  Plucking  the 
proprietor  of  the  hotel  by  the  arm,  Clement 
said:  "  I  want  to  know  Mr.  Ross,  intro 
duce  me  to  him,  won't  you?  " 

The  landlord  beamed  with  pride  and  joy. 
"  Certainly,  Mr.  Clement."  Catching  Mr. 
Ross  by  the  arm  familiarly,  he  began: 
"  Ah,  good  morning,  Mr.  Ross.  Mr.  Ross 
shake  hands  with  my  friend,  Mr.  Clement; 
Mr.  Clement  you  may  have  heard  of  as  the 
owner  of  The  Witch  and  Old  Wiscome, 
two  of  our  really  great  producing  mines." 

Mr.  Ross  was  not  exactly  uncivil,  but  he 
was  cool — very  cool.  "  I  have  heard  of 
Mr.  Clement,"  he  said,  with  calm  inflection, 
but  he  softened  a  little  upon  taking  a  sec 
ond  look  at  the  powerful,  clear-eyed  young 


WITCH'S    GOLD  71 

fellow.  "  You  are  a  renowned  miner,  Mr. 
Clement,  and  your  mine  is  fabulous  in  its 
reported  wealth." 

The  landlord  expanded  like  one  who  has 
accomplished  a  good  deed.  "  I  thought 
you'd  know  him.  Mr.  Clement,  let  me  say, 
is  a  square  business  man.  Whatever  he 
offers  you  is  worth  the  price !  "  He  winked 
at  Clement  as  he  turned  away  as  if  to  say: 
"  Now  it's  up  to  you." 

Clement  began,  "  I  beg  your  pardon, 
Mr.  Ross,  for  taking  this  liberty,  but  I 
wanted  to  know  you  and  was  forced  to  take 
the  first  chance  that  offered.  Let  me  say 
at  beginning  that  I  have  no  mine  to  sell — I 
want  to  know  you — that's  all.  I  wanted  to 
meet  somebody  outside  the  mining  interest. 
I  saw  you  and  your  daughter  at  the  pavilion 
last  night  and  in  the  dining  room  this  morn 
ing.  She  seems  to  be  not — very  strong." 


72  WITCH'S    GOLD 

He  hesitated  in  his  attempt  to  describe  his 
impression  of  her. 

The  father's  theme  was  touched  upon 
now.  The  hard,  stern  look  passed  out  of 
his  face — his  eyes  dimmed.  "  Yes,  poor 
girl,  she  is  in  a  bad  way,  but  I  think  she's 
better.  The  air  up  here  seems  not  to  have 
made  her  worse,  at  any  rate.  I  haven't 
much  faith  in  climate,  but  I  believe  she  has 
improved  since  we  left  Kansas  City  and 
began  to  rise.  You  see  I  was  fool  enough 
to  take  her  to  Europe  last  year  instead  of 
coming  out  here — and  the  sea  air  did  her 
harm." 

He  had  a  marvellous  listener  in  Clement, 
and  they  consumed  three  cigars  apiece  while 
he  told  of  the  doctors  he  had  tried  and  of 
the  different  kinds  of  air  and  water  they 
had  sought,  "  all  to  no  good  purpose  I  fear. 
In  fact  I  don't  know  what  to  think.  It's 


WITCH'S    GOLD  73 

up  and  down  with  me,  but  she  does  not 
change — except  to  grow  weaker — it  seems 
to  me."  His  eyes  were  wet  and  his  voice 
tremulous. 

"The  truth  is,  Mr.  Clement,  the  girl 
don't  seem  to  care  about  living — that's  what 
scares  me.  She's  just  as  sweet  and  lovely 
as  an  angel.  She  responds  to  all  of  my 
suggestions  by  saying :  '  Very  well,  papa,' 
and  yet  I  can  see  she  does  it  just  to  please 
me.  She  has  lost  all  hope  or  fear.  She 
don't  seem  to  care  whether  she  lives  or 
dies  only  as  it  affects  me.  She  is  going 
away  from  me  just  because  I  can't  rouse 
her " 

He  frankly  broke  down,  and  as  he  wiped 
the  tears  from  his  cheeks,  Clement  felt  his 
throat  swell  too  tight  for  speech  at  the  mo 
ment. 

They    sat   thus    for   a    few   minutes   in 


74  WITCH'S    GOLD 

silence  till  the  young  man  was  sufficiently 
master  of  his  voice  to  say : 

"  Mr.  Ross,  you  don't  know  me  except  as 
a  lucky  miner — but  I  have  a  favour  to  ask: 
I  want  to  meet  your  daughter.  I  hope  you 
won't  think  me  presuming — but  I — I'd  like 
to  talk  with  her." 

There  was  something  very  winning  in 
the  young  man's  voice  and  manner,  and  the 
merchant  replied:  "  I  see  no  objection  to 
that.  It  might  interest  her  to  meet  a  man 
who  has  stumbled  upon  a  gold  mine.  Sup 
pose  we  go  right  up  now.  We'll  find  her 
on  the  balcony." 

Clement,  profoundly  moved  by  this  con 
cession,  followed  Ross  up  the  stairs,  not 
knowing  what  he  should  say  to  the  in 
valid. 

The  girl  was  alone,  seated  in  an  easy 
chair  in  the  sun — her  head  only  in  shadow. 


WITCH'S    GOLD  75 

The  father  spoke  in  a  cheerful  and  tender 
voice,  "  Ellice,  I  want  to  present  Mr.  Clem 
ent,  a  young  miner  of  the  neighbourhood. 
Mr.  Clement,  my  daughter  Ellice." 

The  impossible  had  come  to  pass!  As 
Clement  bent  down  and  took  her  hand  and 
looked  into  her  eyes,  his  heart  throbbed  with 
pleasure — and  pain.  Then  once  again  that 
inexplicable  sense  of  power  took  posses 
sion  of  him,  and  he  stood  before  her  calm 
and  clear-eyed.  "Don't  move,"  he  com 
manded,  "  I  will  draw  a  chair  near  you,  if 
I  may." 

She  bowed  slightly  and  he  fetched  a  seat 
while  Mr.  Ross  continued:  "Mr.  Clement 
is  the  man  who  owns  The  Witch  which  is  so 
rich  that  no  one  knows  the  greatness  of  its 
wealth.  We've  been  together  all  the  morn 
ing,  and  I  thought  it  might  interest  you  to 
talk  with  a  man  who  hews  gold  out  of  the 


76  WITCH'S    GOLD 

earth.  Mr.  Clement's  career  is  very  roman 
tic  indeed." 

Ellice  listened,  smiling  the  while  that 
faint,  hopeless  smile,  her  wistful  eyes  fixed 
on  the  powerful  big  brown  man  over  whose 
head  the  sunlight  fell  as  if  it  loved  him — 
found  him  akin. 

"  I'm  glad  to  see  you,"  she  said  in  a  slow 
murmur,  and  then  fell  into  a  muse. 

The  father  looked  at  his  watch. 

"Where  is  Sarah? — I  want  to  go  down 
the  street  a  moment." 

The  girl  spoke  in  the  quiet,  tranquil  voice 
of  one  to  whom  such  things  have  no  im 
portance.  "  I  don't  know,  papa.  A  mo 
ment  ago  she  was  saying  something  to  me, 
and  now  she  is  gone.  That  is  all  I  know. 
Never  mind;  she'll  be  here  in  a  moment." 
She  seemed  to  have  forgotten  the  stranger. 
Her  father  said :  "  Perhaps  Mr.  Clement 


WITCH'S    GOLD  77 

will  tell  you  about  how  he  found  his  mine. 
You'll  find  it  very  interesting.  I'll  only  be 
gone  a  few  minutes.  I'll  send  Sarah." 

"  I  am  all  right,  papa.  If  I  need  any 
thing  Mr.  Clement  can  ring  the  bell  for  me 
— but  I  shall  want  nothing." 

After  Mr.  Ross  went  out  she  added  in  the 
same  gentle,  emotionless  way :  "  Poor  papa ! 
He  is  a  martyr  to  me.  He  thinks  he  must 
sit  by  me  continually.  He  seems  to  fear 
I  may  die  while  he  is  gone.  All  his  worry 
is  futile.  It  doesn't  really  matter  whether 
I  die  alone  or  not,  does  it  now? " 

Clement  leaned  forward  till  his  eyes  were 
on  a  level  with  hers,  and  his  voice  was  vi 
brant  and  penetrating  as  he  said:  "Yes,  it 
does  matter.  You  must  not  die  now.  What 
can  I  do  for  you,  Miss  Ross?  I  have  the 
profoundest  conviction  that  I  can  do  you 
good.  Let  me  help  you." 


78  WITCH'S    GOLD 

A  look  of  faint  surprise  came  into  her 
wide  brown  eyes.  She  gazed  at  him  as  a 
babe  might,  striving  to  comprehend  a  new 
word,  while  he  went  on  with  growing  in 
tensity:  "Here  I  am,  a  strong  young 
man  with  heart  full  of  desire  to  help  you. 
What  can  I  do  for  you?  " 

"  I  think  I  understand  you,"  she 
answered  slowly.  "  It's  very  good  of 
you,  but  you  can  do  nothing.  Nobody 


can." 


"  You  must  not  say  that,"  he  sharply  re 
plied,  and  his  voice  produced  in  her  a  per 
ceptible  shock.  Her  white  hands  clenched 
a  little  and  her  eyes  lost  their  vague  stare. 
He  went  on  swiftly,  each  word  a  node  of 
electrical  energy.  "  There  must  be  some 
thing  I  can  do.  If  it  will  help  you,  there 
is  my  arm  "  —he  threw  out  his  hand — "  its 
blood  is  yours.  It  isn't  right  that  one  so 


WITCH'S    GOLD  79 

young  and  beautiful  should  die.  We  won't 
let  you  die.  You  must  summon  back  your 
will.  This  wind  and  sun — and  the  good 
water  will  work  with  us  to  do  you  good.  I 
am  at  your  service — use  me.  Let  me  help 
you." 

His  voice  moved  her,  and  she  smiled  with 
small  tears  on  her  long  lashes.  "  I  thank 
you — indeed  I  do.  You  are  very  kind  but 
— I  despair  of  ever  being  well."  She 
paused  a  moment,  then  added  disconnected 
ly:  "I  saw  you  at  the  spring  last  night. 
I  liked  you — you  were  so  big  and  brown. 
It  did  me  good  to  look  at  you.  Perhaps  I 
have  come  at  last — "  She  coughed — a 
weak,  flat  sound  which  made  him  shudder. 
He  wrung  his  hands  in  helpless  desire  to 
check  each  convulsion.  His  face  was  dis 
torted  with  sympathetic  pain. 

She  tried  to  reassure  him.     "Really,  I 


80  WITCH'S    GOLD 

have  coughed  less  than  at  any  time  during 
the  last  five  months." 

He  faced  her,  full  of  strength  again. 
"  Miss  Ross,  I  felt  last  night  a  sudden 
desire  to  help  you.  I  believe  I  have  the 
power  to  help  you — I  don't  know  why — I'm 
not  a  healer."  He  smiled  for  the  first  time. 
"  But  I  am  perfectly  sure  I  can  do  you 
good.  It  is  absurd  of  course — I  never  had 
such  a  feeling  toward  any  person  before — 
It  is  just  as  strange  to  me  as  it  is  to  you,  but 
something  tells  me  that  if  you  will  yield 
yourself  into  my  hands  I  can  give  you  of 
my  strength." 

She  was  looking  at  him  now  with  musing 
eyes. 

"  That  is  the  curious  part  of  it,"  she  said. 
"  What  you  say  doesn't  seem  strange  at  all. 
It  is  as  if  I  had  been  wanting  to  hear  your 
voice — as  if  I  had  known  of  you  all  my 


WITCH'S    GOLD  81 

life — "  She  tried  again  to  suppress  her 
coughing,  and  he  was  in  agony  during  the 
paroxysm.  The  nurse  came  hurrying  out, 
and  while  he  waited,  Clement  felt  that  if 
he  could  have  taken  her  by  the  hands  he 
could  have  prevented  her  attack.  It  was  a 
definite  conviction,  but  not  quite  strong 
enough  to  lead  to  action.  But  when  she 
was  quiet  again  and  the  nurse  had  moved 
away  he  approached  and  took  her  small  thin 
hand  in  his  broad  palm  and  said:  "  I'll  go 
now.  I  must  not  tire  you.  But  remember 
I'm  going  to  come  and  see  you,  and  I'm 
going  to  do  you  good.  Every  time  I  see 
you  I  am  going  to  will  to  you  some  of  my 
vitality — my  love  of  life.  For  I  love  life — 
it  is  beautiful  to  live  and  it  is  unnatural  that 
you  who  are  both  young  and  beautiful 
should  be  willing  to  die."  Then  with  a  sud 
den  change  of  tone  he  said  in  a  tone  of  stern 


82  WITCH'S    GOLD 

resolution:  "  I  will  not  let  you  die.  I  am 
in  league  with  the  winds  and  the  waters  of 
these  mountains  and  we  will  save  you." 

She  lay  quietly  smiling  after  he  went 
away,  a  flush  on  her  cheek  which  made  the 
pallor  of  her  brow  and  temples  the  more 
pitiful.  It  was  all  very  startling  and  won 
derful — this  big  man's  faith  in  his  power 
to  heal  her  when  all  the  great  physicians 
had  failed.  She  liked  him — was  mildly 
glad  of  his  coming.  He  was  so  unspoiled 
and  so  direct  of  manner.  She  acknowl 
edged  a  dim  hope  that  he  might  come  again, 
his  voice  was  so  stirring  and  his  hands  so  big 
and  strong. 

She  felt  no  deeper  interest,  for  she  had 
gone  beyond  the  reach  of  even  the  conjec 
ture  of  passion.  She  had  drifted  far  past 
love  and  hate  and  ambition,  to  the  attain 
ment  of  a  certain  colourless  resignation  to 


WITCH'S    GOLD  83 

her  fate.  The  world  once  of  so  poignant 
an  interest,  had  become  merely  a  gorgeous, 
swift  pageant  like  colours  on  the  sky  upon 
which  she  was  looking  for  the  last  time,  too 
tired,  too  indifferent  to  lift  a  finger  to  stay 
it  in  its  course,  even  had  that  power  been 
within  her  hand.  Birth  and  death  were 
mere  words — faces,  vague  splotches  of  pink 
and  brown  on  a  moving  tapestry — and  yet 
there  were  times  when  she  rebelled — when 

•^ 

a  wish  to  live  resurged.  Sometimes  in  the 
middle  of  the  night  as  she  lay  alone  in  her 
bed  a  great  wave  of  longing  swept  upon 
her,  and  she  was  forced  to  turn  her  face  to 
her  pillow  to  stifle  her  mingled  coughing 
and  sobbing.  At  such  moments  she  prayed: 
"  Oh,  Father,  let  me  live !  I  want  to  come 
and  go  like  other  women.  Oh,  dear  Father, 
grant  me  a  little  life!  I  am  too  young  to 
die." 


84  WITCH'S    GOLD 

These  waves  of  passionate  rebellion  had 
left  her  each  time  weaker,  sadder,  more  in 
different  than  before,  and  as  coldly  pallid 
almost  as  if  death  had  already  claimed  her, 
and  of  late  she  could  do  nothing  of  her  own 
will.  And  yet  she  was  so  innately  consider 
ate  of  others  that  she  tried  to  meet  their 
words  of  cheer,  their  offers  of  aid  with 
smiling  thanks. 


CHAPTER   VI 

ON  the  night  following  Clement's  talk 
with  her  Ellice  fell  asleep  while  mus 
ing  upon  the  current  theories  of  mental 
therapeutics  of  which  she  had  heard  a  good 
deal  in  one  indirect  way  or  another.  Per 
haps  if  she  could  only  believe,  she  might  be 
helped;  perhaps  this  strong  personality  had 
been  sent  to  help  her.  It  had  been  long 
since  a  man  so  strong,  so  frank,  had  stood 
before  her — indeed,  his  equal,  in  certain 
forceful  ways,  had  never  touched  her  hand 
or  looked  into  her  eyes. 

His  character  could  be  read  at  a  glance. 
He  came  down  out  of  the  mountain  heights 


86  WITCH'S    GOLD 

with  the  elemental  vigour  of  wind  and  sun 
and  soil  about  him  like  an  aura.  A  man  of 
great  natural  refinement,  he  had  grown 
strong  and  simple  and  masterful  in  his  close 
contact  with  nature.  The  clay,  the  toil  in 
the  darkness  which  might  have  brutalised 
another  nature  had  given  him  a  distinct 
majesty.  Command  was  in  his  voice,  in  the 
lift  of  his  head.  There  was  something 
mysterious  in  his  eyes,  in  the  clasp  of  his 
hand. 

"  The  world  is  all  inexplicable,"  she  said 
wearily.  "  I  can  only  accept  what  comes. 
Perhaps  God  has  sent  this  man  to  help  me 
just  as  he  sends  healing  water  down  from 
the  mountain  peaks." 

Worn  with  all  this  conjecture  she  fell 
asleep,  and  in  her  dream  it  seemed  that  she 
was  perfectly  restored  to  health  and  dress 
ing  for  a  walk.  Clement  had  called  for  her 


WITCH'S    GOLD  87 

to  climb  the  mountains  with  him,  and  she 
was  making  preparation  to  go,  working 
swiftly  and  unhesitatingly,  moving  about 
her  room  deftly,  lightly,  as  of  old — and 
how  deliciously  sweet  it  was  to  step  swiftly, 
to  find  activity  a  pleasure  once  more!  She 
was  dressed  in  a  short  walking-skirt  with 
leggins  as  if  for  a  climb,  and  as  she  stood 
before  the  glass  to  adjust  her  cap,  she 
thrilled  to  see  how  round  and  pink  her 
cheeks  had  become,  she  laughed  and  said: 
"  I  am  perfectly  well  and  he  is  the  cause 
of  it." 

She  heard  his  impatient  feet  pacing  out 
side  on  the  veranda,  and  smiled  to  think  how 
typical  their  action  was  of  all  husbands  and 
wives — he  waiting,  she  at  the  glass — and  at 
the  thought  her  face  grew  pinker  and  she 
turned  away — no  longer  caring  to  meet  her 
accusing  eyes. 


88  WITCH'S    GOLD 

But  suddenly  all  warmth — all  flushing — 
all  joy  left  her.  With  a  familiar  creep  and 
chill  her  weakness  came  back  upon  her. 
She  could  not  proceed.  Her  hand  half 
clothed,  fell  to  her  side,  her  strength  no 
longer  equal  to  the  task  of  drawing  on  the 
glove.  Every  movement  stopped,  and  look 
ing  within  the  glass  again  she  saw  her 
self  pale,  hollow-eyed,  despairing.  She 
could  not  lift  her  feet,  and  so,  helpless  as  if 
chained  to  the  floor,  she  waited  while  his 
impatient  feet  sounded  heavily  on  the  ver 
anda.  An  agony  of  desire  seized  her — a 
wish  to  escape.  She  longed  to  go  out  into 
the  bright  sunlight  with  him,  no  longer  in 
different.  She  struggled  hard,  but  could 
neither  move  nor  whisper.  At  last  all  this 
resolution,  this  rebellion,  fell  away.  Her 
heart  grew  heavy  and  sick  and  cold.  It 
was  all  over.  He  would  wait  for  a  while 


WITCH'S    GOLD  89 

and  then  go  away,  and  she  would  stand 
there  desolate,  helpless,  inert  as  clay,  with 
life  dark  and  empty  before  her. 

"  Oh,  if  he  would  only  call  me!  "  was  her 
last  breath  of  resolution. 

Once,  twice  more  the  feet  went  up  and 
down  the  veranda — then  paused  before  her 
door.  She  heard  his  voice. 

"Are  you  ready? "  he  called  cheerily. 

She  struggled  to  answer,  but  could  not. 
He  spoke  again  and  she  whispered  "  Yes." 

Then  the  door  swung  open  briskly  and  he 
stood  on  the  threshold  in  the  streaming  sun 
light  of  the  morning — so  tall,  he  seemed  to 
fill  the  doorway,  brown  as  spring  time  earth, 
and  with  a  smile  of  mastery  extended  his 
hand.  "  Come,"  he  said,  "  the  sturdy  old 
mountains  are  wonderfully  grand  this 
morning.  They  are  waiting  for  us!  " 

His  fingers  closed  over  hers,  and  the  sun- 


90  WITCH'S    GOLD 

light  fell  upon  her  too,  warming  her  to  the 
heart,  and  at  this  moment  while  lifting  her 
eyes  to  the  shining  peaks  she  awoke  in  her 
room  alone.  The  morning  sun  had  stolen 
its  way  through  a  half -opened  shutter  and 
lay  warm  and  golden  upon  her  hand. 

At  first  she  was  ready  to  weep  with  dis 
appointment  and  renewed  despair,  but  as 
she  pondered  her  dream  she  came  to  see  in 
it  a  hidden  promise.  It  had  been  long  since 
she  had  even  dreamed  of  perfect  health,  and 
the  touch  of  impotence  at  its  close  had  been 
put  aside.  And  most  significant  of  all  a 
man's  hand  had  broken  her  bonds  and  led 
her  into  the  open  air  of  the  sunlit  world. 

This  dream  surrounded  Clement  with  a 
glamour,  a  poetry  which  no  other  person 
possessed,  and  she  met  him  thereafter  in  a 
spirit  of  awe  and  wonder,  such  as  a  child 
might  experience  upon  finding  one  of  its 


WITCH'S    GOLD  91 

dream-heroes  palpably  beside  its  bed  in  the 
full  sunlight  of  the  morning.  The  fear, 
the  agony  and  the  joy  of  the  night's  vision 
gave  to  his  lightest  word  a  changeful  sig 
nificance.  Her  heart  beat  faster  at  the 
touch  of  his  hand  and  by  this  she  found  her 
self  still  susceptible — still  capable  of  being 
moved  by  the  sound  of  a  man's  voice — this 
was  in  effect  a  wave  of  returning  life,  and 
for  a  moment  she  glowed  with  hope,  but  a 
glance  at  her  poor  wasted  fingers  checked 
her  smile.  Her  feet  did  not  respond  to  her 
will. 

And  yet  her  heart  quickened  whenever 
his  eyes  met  hers  for  they  were  filled  with 
a  light  which  was  akin  to  the  morning. 
How  handsome  he  was.  How  glorious 
with  health,  how  resolute  with  unconquer 
able  physical  pride.  Was  there  anything 
so  desirable  in  all  the  world?  She  did  not 


92  WITCH'S    GOLD 

attempt  to  deeply  analyse  the  emotion  thus 
awakened  in  her,  being  well  content  to  think 
that  his  charm,  his  inspiration  lay  in  his  em- 
Bodiment  of  health  and  happiness. 

He  was  dressed  for  riding,  a  suit  of  light 
brown  corduroy  with  laced  miner's  boots, 
and  this  costume  seemed  to  accentuate  his 
brotherhood  to  the  peaks. 

He  bent  a  smiling  but  penetrating  glance 
upon  her. 

"  You  are  better  this  morning,  I  can  see 
that."  He  began  exultantly.  "  You  have 
risen  to-day  with  a  new  resolution.'* 

It  was  exactly  as  if  he  knew  of  her  dream, 
and  that  the  walk  had  been  actual,  and  a 
flush  crept  into  her  face — so  faint  it  could 
scarcely  be  detected — yet  it  seemed  to  her 
that  her  cheeks  were  scarlet.  What  magic 
was  this  which  made  her  flush — she  whom 
Death  had  already  claimed  for  his  own? 


WITCH'S    GOLD  93 

And  with  this  question  went  a  thrill  of 
subtly  sweet  pleasure  close-linked  with  her 
dream. 

Mr.  Ross  invited  Clement  to  sit  with 
them  at  breakfast  as  she  hoped  he  would  do. 
The  miner  accepted  with  frankly  expressed 
pleasure. 

"  I'm  going  for  a  gallop  this  morning," 
he  said  in  explanation  of  his  dress.  "  I 
wish  you  could  go  too,"  he  added,  address 
ing  himself  to  Ellice  with  purpose  in  his 
tone. 

"  I  wish  so  too,"  she  replied,  a  little  bit 
terly. 

'  Wish  hard  enough  and  you  will  get 
your  wish,"  he  smilingly  admonished  her. 

Mr.  Ross  introduced  Clement  to  the 
fourth  person  at  the  table,  a  plump  and 
handsome  woman  of  middle  age.  "  Mr. 
Clement,  let  me  present  you  to  my  sister." 


94  WITCH'S    GOLD 

Miss  Ross  for  all  her  plumpness  was  in 
clined  to  be  censorious  like  her  brother. 
She  complained  volubly  of  the  food,  of  the 
altitude  and  of  the  chill  shadows,  and  Clem 
ent  could  see  that  they  were  both  very  dis 
heartening  companions  for  a  sick  girl.  As 
siduous  as  they  were  in  their  attendance, 
devoted  and  loving,  they  yet  worried  her — 
depressed  her  when  they  should  have  been 
both  comfort  and  encouragement.  Even 
the  nurse  had  caught  this  spirit. 

Clement  set  himself  to  be  the  antidote. 
His  whole  manner  of  treatment  was  of  the 
hopeful,  buoyant  sort.  He  praised  the 
magnificent  weather,  dwelt  upon  the  maj 
esty  of  the  mountains,  and  the  purity  of 
the  air  and  water.  "  I  love  to  think  that  we 
are  sitting  at  this  moment  above  the  great 
cities,  above  the  miasmas.  Almost  all  of 
human  kind  are  below  us,  think  of  that." 


WITCH'S    GOLD  95 

His  words  were  at  once  exclamation  and 
command. 

"  After  I  get  back  from  my  ride  I  wish 
you'd  let  me  come  and  talk  with  you.  Per 
haps,"  he  added,  "  you'll  be  able  to  walk  a 
little  way  with  me.  This  is  vacation  time 
with  me  and  I'm  a  little  lonesome.  For 
years  I've  been  thinking  only  of  getting 
rich.  I  had  no  time  to  make  any  other  than 
business  acquaintances.  I  want  you  to  help 
me  forget  business  for  a  while." 

He  made  the  breakfast  almost  cheerful 
by  his  presence,  and  went  away  saying: 

"I'll  be  back  by  eleven  o'clock,  and  I 
hope  to  find  you  ready  for  a  walk." 

Miss  Ross  astonished  both  at  the  miner's 
assurance  and  at  Ellice's  silent,  smiling 
acquiescence,  watched  him  as  he  strode  out 
of  earshot,  then  broke  forth:  "Well,  if 
that  isn't  the  most  extraordinary  piece  of 


96  WITCH'S    GOLD 

impudence!  I  wonder  if  that's  the  usual 
western  way  of  meddling  with  somebody 
else's  business.  He  seems  to  think  he  is  in 
charge  of  you.  He  positively  ordered  you 
to  walk  with  him." 

"  I  wish  I  were  able  to  obey,"  the  sick 
girl  quietly  answered.  "  I  like  him.  He 
interests  me." 

Her  aunt  gasped:  "Well  upon  my 
soul!" 

Mr.  Ross  interfered.  "  Now  don't  be  a 
fool,  Sarah.  If  she  is  interested  in  this 
young  fellow  so  much  the  better — I  rather 
like  him  myself." 

Ellice  spoke  again  with  more  energy  in 
her  voice  than  she  had  manifested  for  many 
months : 

"  Aunt  Sarah,  I  want  you  to  help  me 
dress.  I'm  going  to  walk  a  little  by  and 
bye." 


WITCH'S    GOLD  97 

"  Not  with  that  man? "  the  aunt  inquired 
in  protest. 

'  Yes,  aunt."  Her  voice  was  vibrant 
with  fixed  purpose.  "  If  he  is  good  enough 
to  ask  a  poor  thing  like  me  to  walk  with  him 
I  mean  to  accept." 

"  But  think  how  you'd  look  leaning  on 
the  arm  of  a  stranger — you'd  have  to  lean." 

"  Auntie,  dear,  I  have  long  passed  the 
point  of  caring  how  anything  looks.  What 
does  it  matter  to  me?  I  am  not  living  now 
to  please  the  world.  Mr.  Clement  is  sin 
cere  in  his  desire  to  help  me.  I  like  him — 
He  does  me  good,  while  you  tire  and  fret  me 
with  your  endless  complaining,"  she  added 
with  a  childish  petulancy. 

Mr.  Ross  again  interceded:  "Why,  of 
course,  what  harm  can  it  do?  I'd  let  her 
lean  on  the  arm  of  '  Cherokee  Bill '  if  she 
wanted  to."  They  all  smiled  at  this,  and 


98  WITCH'S    GOLD 

he  added,  "  The  trouble  has  been,  she 
didn't  want  to  do  anything  at  all,  and  now 
she  shall  do  what  she  likes  if  every  other 
woman  in  The  Springs  talks  her  tongue 
as  raw  as  beef." 

This  conference  by  these  plump,  grossly- 
fed,  elderly,  practical  people  disturbed  and 
depressed  the  girl.  They  coarsened  and 
made  commonplace  the  beautiful  action  of 
a  good  man — and  she  was  ready  to  weep 
with  irritation  and  disappointment.  She 
could  not  tell  them  the  secret  of  the  dream 
which  had  so  poignantly  impressed  her,  and 
to  speak  of  her  suddenly  developed  faith 
that  this  big  miner  could  help  her  back  to 
health  and  happiness  would  have  added  to 
her  annoyance.  Already  they  had  worn 
away  her  faint  elation  and  she  made  her 
preparation  for  the  walk  with  languid  ir 
resolution. 


CHAPTER   VII 

HE  met  her  on  the  veranda  at  eleven, 
clothed  in  a  handsome  frock  suit  of 
grey,  with  a  broad-brimmed  grey  hat  to 
match,  looking  like  some  of  the  pictures  of 
western  Congressmen  she  had  seen.  His  coat 
was  unbuttoned,  and  had  the  effect  of  drap 
ing  his  tall,  erect  figure,  and  the  hat  suited 
well  with  the  large  lines  of  his  nose  and 
chin.  It  seemed  to  her  she  had  never  seen 
a  more  striking  and  picturesque  figure,  and 
another  faint  stirring  of  girlish  admiration 
came  to  her  blood,  as  he  said:  "  I  was 
afraid  they  wouldn't  let  you  come.  I'll 
carry  you  down  the  stairs  if  you'll  say  the 
word,"  he  added  as  they  paused  a  moment 
at  the  topmost  step. 


100  WITCH'S    GOLD 

She  lifted  her  big  eyes  to  his  and  smiled 
faintly. 

"  Oh,  no.  I  can  walk  if  you  will  give  me 
time." 

"  Time !  Time  is  money.  I  can't  af 
ford  it."  He  stooped  and  lifted  her  in  his 
right  arm,  and  before  she  could  protest  was 
half  way  down  the  stairway.  As  he  re 
leased  her  they  both  smiled  up  into  the  hor 
rified  face  of  Aunt  Sarah,  and  Clement  re 
marked:  "We  are  following  natural  im 
pulse  now." 

Mr.  Ross  came  from  the  rotunda  of  the 
hotel  to  say:  "  Don't  go  too  far." 

"Trust  me,"  said  Clement.  "If  she 
gets  tired  I'll  take  her  on  my  arm  and  carry 
her  home." 

"  'Twould  be  simpler  to  call  a  carriage," 
Ellice  replied  with  a  touch  of  humour  which 
delighted  her  father.  And  so  they  walked 


WITCH'S    GOLD  101 

up  the  street  side  by  side,  up  toward  the 
spring,  slowly — she  with  effort,  he  with  re 
strained  power.  Turning  abruptly,  he  said 
decisively,  but  tenderly: 

"  You  must  think  you're  better — that's 
half  the  battle.  You  must  set  yourself  a 
mark.  A  place  to  reach.  See  that  stream? 
Some  day  I'm  going  to  show  you  where  it 
starts.  I  know  the  place  well.  Up  there 
it  is  uncontaminated — full  of  the  properties 
that  cure.  Down  here  it  is  only  half  as 
good.  Out  there  on  the  plain  it  is  a  dull, 
corrupt  ditch.  The  legend  is  that  if  you 
drink  at  its  source  up  there  in  the  spring 
above  timber-line  it  will  cure  you  of  every 
ill." 

She  saw  his  intent  and  said:  "I'm 
afraid  I'll  be  cured  long  before  I  am  able  to 
get  there." 

"  I'm  going  to  make  it  my  aim  in  life  to 


102  WITCH'S    GOLD 

see  you  drink  at  that  pool,"  he  declared,  and 
his  directness  and  simplicity  pleased  her — 
strengthened  her  faith.  After  this  they  did 
not  talk  much  until  they  were  seated  on  one 
of  the  benches  near  the  fountain. 

"  Sit  in  the  sun,"  he  commanded.  "  Don't 
be  afraid  of  the  sun.  The  sun's  rays  never 
breed  disease.  The  sun  gives  life.  Beware 
of  the  shadow,"  and  by  this  she  knew  he 
meant  to  rebuke  her  for  indifference  and 
despair. 

He  went  on  vigorously:  "The  one 
thing  about  mining  which  I  do  not  like  is 
the  sunlessness  of  its  life.  I  never  go  into 
my  own  mine  without  a  pang  of  regret  for 
the  sunlight  which  is  lost  to  me.  You  can 
not  afford  to  lose  any  of  this  sun.  Let  it 
permeate  you — let  it  burn  you — it  will  do 
you  good." 

She  asked  him  a  languid  question  about 


WITCH'S    GOLD  103 

his  mine,  and  so  encouraged,  he  told  her  of 
himself — of  his  family — of  his  plans. 

"  No,  I  was  not  educated  to  be  a  miner. 
My  original  intention  was  to  fit  myself  for 
teaching  chemistry.  My  father  was  a  drug 
gist  in  a  village  not  far  from  Des  Moines, 
and  though  it  was  a  small  business  he  man 
aged  to  educate  me,  and,  later,  my  brother. 
But  when  he  died  I  found  it  involved  and 
I  tried  to  hold  the  trade  he  had  built  up 
and  pay  up  its  indebtedness.  I  kept  my 
brother  at  college  during  his  last  two  years, 
and  when  he  came  home  I  turned  the  store 
over  to  him  and  got  out.  You  see  he  was 
about  to  marry,  and  the  business  wouldn't 
support  two  families.  I  was  always  in 
clined  to  adventure,  anyway.  This  Cripple 
Creek  camp  was  in  everybody's  mouth,  so 
naturally,  I  came  here." 

His   eyes   glowed.     "  Those  were  great 


104  WITCH'S    GOLD 

days,  the  walk  across  the  mountains  was  like 
a  story  to  me.  I  liked  the  newness  of 
everything  in  the  camp,  the  smell  of  new 
lumber,  the  creak  of  windlasses.  It  was 
glorious  to  hear  the  hammers  ringing,  and 
see  the  new  buildings  going  up  day  by  day. 
Tents  and  shanties  rose  like  mushrooms. 
It  was  rough  here  then,  but  I  had  little  to 
do  with  saloons.  I  staked  out  my  claim 
and  went  to  digging.  I  knew  something  of 
mineralogy  but  very  little  about  mining, 
but  as  they  were  striking  gold  all  around 
me,  I  concluded  my  chances  were  good  and 
so  I  kept  on.  Besides  " — here  he  looked  at 
her  with  a  touch  of  shyness  in  his  smile — 
"  I've  always  had  a  superstition  that  just 
when  things  were  at  their  worst  with  me 
they  were  about  to  be  mended,  so  I  dug 
away.  My  tunnel  went  into  the  hill  on  a 
slight  upraise,  and  I  was  able  to  push  my 


WITCH'S    GOLD  105 

car  alone.  You  see  I  had  so  little  money 
I  didn't  want  to  waste  a  cent.  It  was  hard 
work  but  I  enjoyed  my  life  till  my  money 
was  gone.  Each  day  brought  me  nearer  to 
my  strike,  I  thought."  His  face  grew 
grave. 

"  But  my  last  dollar  went  at  last  for 
powder  and  the  sharpening  of  picks,  and 
for  assaying — and  one  morning,  three  years 
ago,  I  found  myself  without  money  and 
without  food." 

He  paused  there,  and  his  eyes  darkened 
with  remembered  despair,  till  she  was 
touched  with  sympathetic  pain. 

"  It  must  be  terrible  to  be  without  food 
and  money." 

"  No  one  knows  what  it  means  till  he  ex 
periences  it.  I  worked  all  that  day  without 
food.  It  seemed  as  if  I  must  strike  the  vein 
then.  Besides,  I  took  a  sort  of  morbid 


106  WITCH'S    GOLD 

pleasure  in  abusing  myself — as  if  I  were  to 
blame.  I  had  been  living  on  canned  beans, 
and  flapjacks,  and  coffee  without  milk  or 
sugar,  and  I  was  weak  and  sick — but  it  all 
had  to  end.  About  four  o'clock  I  dropped 
my  pick  and  staggered  out  to  the  light.  It 
was  impossible  to  do  anything  more." 

There  were  tears  in  her  eyes  now,  for  his 
voice  unconsciously  took  on  the  anguish  of 
that  despair. 

"  I  sat  there  looking  out  toward  the 
mountains  and  down  on  the  camp.  The 
blasts  were  booming  from  all  hills — the  men 
were  going  home  with  their  dinner-pails 
flashing  red  in  the  setting  sun's  light.  It 
made  me  angry  to  think  of  them  going 
home  to  supper  while  I  had  none.  It 
seemed  impossible  that  I  should  be  sitting 
there  starving,  while  the  grass  was  so  green, 
and  the  sunset  so  beautiful.  I  can  see  it  all 


WITCH'S    GOLD  107 

now  as  it  looked  then,  the  old  Sangre  de 
Christo  range  was  like  a  wall  of  glistening 
marble  to  the  west. 

"  Well,  I  sat  there  till  my  hunger  gnawed 
me  into  action.  Then  I  reeled  down  the 
trail.  I  saw  how  foolish  I  had  been  to  go 
on  day  after  day  hoping,  hoping  until  the 
last  cent  was  gone.  I  hadn't  money  enough 
to  pay  the  extra  postage  on  a  letter  which 
was  at  the  office.  The  clerk  gave  me  the 
letter  and  paid  the  shortage  himself.  The 
letter  was  from  my  sister,  telling  me  how 
peaceful  and  secure  life  was  at  home ;  they 
had  little  money,  but  they  had  food,  and  it 
made  me  crazy.  She  asked  me  how  many 
nuggets  I  had  found.  You  can  judge  how 
that  hurt.  I  went  down  the  street  seeking 
food — I  must  eat  or  die,  I  knew  that." 

"  Oh,  how  horrible! "  the  girl  exclaimed. 

"  There  was  one  eating-house  at  which  I 


108  WITCH'S    GOLD 

always  took  my  supper.  It  was  kept  by  an 
Irish  woman,  a  big,  hearty  woman  whose 
husband  was  a  prospector — or  had  been. 
4  Biddy  McCarty's '  was  famous  for  its 
'  home  cooking.'  I  went  by  the  door  twice, 
for  I  couldn't  bring  myself  to  go  in  and  ask 
for  a  meal.  You  don't  know  how  hard  that 
is.  It's  very  queer,  if  a  man  has  money  he 
can  ask  for  credit  or  a  meal,  but  if  he  is 
broke  he'll  starve  first.  I  could  see  Biddy 
waiting  on  the  tables — the  smell  that  came 
out  was  a  most  delicious  and  tantalising 
odour  of  beef  stew — it  made  me  faint  with 
hunger." 

His  voice  grew  a  little  tremulous  as 
after  a  pause  he  resumed.  "When  I  en 
tered  Dan  looked  up  and  said  respectfully, 
*  Good  evenin',  Mr.  Clement,'  and  I  felt  so 
ashamed  of  my  errand  I  turned  to  run. 
Everything  whirled  then — and  when  I  got 


WITCH'S    GOLD  109 

my  bearings  again  Dan  had  me  on  his  arm 
and  Biddy  was  holding  a  bowl  of  soup  to 
my  lips." 

The  girl  sighed  in  relief.  "  Oh,  how 
good  of  them! " 

"Wasn't  it?  They  could  see  I  was 
starving.  As  soon  as  I  could  speak  I  told 
them  about  the  mine — and,  well,  some  way 
I  persuaded  them  to  '  grub-stake '  me  that 
night." 

"  What  is  that?  " 

'  That  is,  they  agreed  to  furnish  me  food 
and  money  for  tools  and  to  share  in  the 
profits.  Dan  went  to  work  with  me,  and  do 
you  know,  it  ended  in  ruining  them  both! 
We  organised  a  company  called  the  '  Biddy 
Mining  Company.'  I  was  president,  and 
Dan  was  vice-president,  and  Biddy  was 
treasurer.  Biddy  kept  us  going  by  her  eat 
ing-house,  but  eventually  we  wanted  ma- 


110  WITCH'S    GOLD 

chinery,  and  so  we  mortgaged  the  eating- 
house,  and  the  money,  every  dollar  of  it, 
went  into  that  hole  in  the  ground.  But  I 
knew  we  would  succeed.  I  was  perfectly 
sure  of  it.  Whenever  I  was  alone  I  could 
hear  little  voices  in  the  rocks  calling  me  to 
keep  on.  I  wonder  if  that  seems  foolish 
to  you.  Perhaps  I  am  a  miner  after  all— 
for  miners,  like  railway  engineers,  have 
queer  fancies — they  feed  on  chance."  His 
eyes,  turned  upon  her,  were  full  of  mys 
tery. 

"  I  have  always  felt  the  stir  of  life  around 
me  in  the  dark,  and  there  in  that  mine- 
after  we  struck  the  spring  of  water — I 
thought  I  heard  voices  all  the  time  in  the 
plash  of  the  water.  *  Merrily  pick,  pick,' 
they  seemed  to  say.  I  suppose  it  bordered 
on  insanity,  for  I  ruined  Dan  and  Biddy 
without  mercy.  I  couldn't  stop.  I  was 


WITCH'S    GOLD  111 

sure  if  we  could  only  hold  out  a  little  while, 
another  day,  we  would  open  the  vein.  But 
we  didn't.  Biddy  had  to  go  to  work  as  a 
cook,  and  Dan  and  I  went  out  to  try  to  bor 
row  some  money.  I  couldn't  bear  to  let  a 
stranger  in  after  all  the  heat  and  toil  which 
Dan  and  Biddy  and  I  had  endured,  but  it 
had  to  be  done.  We  took  in  a  fellow  from 
Iowa  by  the  name  of  Eldred  and  went  to 
work  again. 

"  One  day  after  our  blast  I  was  the  first  to 
enter,  and  the  moment  that  I  saw  the  heap 
of  rock  I  knew  we  had  opened  the  vein. 
My  wildest  dreams  were  realised!" 

"And  then  your  troubles  ended,"  the 
girl  said  with  a  tender  smile. 

"  No  indeed,  for  now  a  new  complication 
arose.  The  assayer  tried  our  ore  again  and 
again  finding  it  very  rich,  but  when  we 
shipped  to  the  mills  we  got  almost  no  re- 


112  WITCH'S    GOLD 

turns.  We  tried  every  process,  but  the 
gold  seemed  to  slip  away  from  us.  Finally 
I  took  a  carload  and  went  with  it  to  see  what 
was  the  matter.  I  followed  it  till  it  came 
out  on  the  plates — that  is  where  they  catch 
the  gold  by  the  use  of  quicksilver  spread  on 
copper  plates — and  it  seemed  all  right.  I 
scraped  some  of  the  amalgam  up  and  put 
it  into  a  small  phial  to  take  home  with  me. 
When  I  got  home  the  company  assembled 
to  hear  my  report,  and  when  I  took  out  the 
amalgam  to  show  it  to  them  it  had  turned 
to  a  queer  yellow-green  liquid. 

"  I  was  astounded,  but  Dan  and  Biddy 
crossed  themselves,  their  superstitious  fears 
aroused.  '  It's  witches'  gold,'  Biddy  said. 
*  Dan,  have  no  more  to  do  with  it.'  And 
witches'  gold  it  remained  to  them.  They 
gave  up  all  rights  to  me  and  went  back  to 
work  in  the  camp.  Eldred  cursed  me  for 


WITCH'S    GOLD  113 

getting  him  into  the  hole  and  so  they  left 
me  to  fight  it  out  alone.  I  was  like  a  mono 
maniac — I  never  thought  of  giving  up.  I 
sold  my  share  in  the  homestead  to  raise  a  lit 
tle  money  and  with  that  I  bought  in  all  the 
stock  of  the  '  Biddy  Mining  Company,'  and 
went  to  work  to  solve  the  mystery  of  the 
amalgam.  You  see  I  had  been  a  good  pupil 
in  chemistry  at  college,  and  I  put  my  whole 
life  and  brain  into  that  mystery  till  I  solved 
it.  It  took  me  five  months  and  left  me  deep 
in  debt,  but  I  won.  I  found  a  way  to  treat 
the  ore  so  that  most  of  the  gold  was  saved. 
I  renamed  the  mine  The  Witch,  and  it  has 
made  me  rich." 

"  It  is  like  a  fairy  tale !  What  became 
of  your  faithful  friends,  Dan  and  Biddy?  " 

"  I  made  Dan  the  foreman  of  the  mine, 
and  I  built  a  big  new  hotel  for  Biddy.  Dan 
is  with  me  yet,  happy  and  prosperous." 


114  WITCH'S    GOLD 

He  had  a  sudden  sensation  of  heat  in  his 
face  as  he  leaped  the  chasm  between  the 
withdrawal  of  Dan  and  Biddy  from  the 
firm  and  his  solution  of  the  amalgam.  He 
did  not  care  to  dwell  upon  the  fact  that 
Eldred  still  had  suits  pending  to  recover 
his  stock,  claiming  that  it  was  bought  in 
under  false  pretences.  Neither  did  he  care 
to  enter  into  the  stormy  time  which  followed 
the  sudden  leap  of  The  Witch  from  a 
haunted  hole  in  the  ground  to  a  cave  of 
diamonds.  He  hurried  on  to  the  end  while 
she  listened  in  absorbed  interest  like  a  child 
to  a  wonder  story.  Then  she  sighed  in  the 
world-old  manner  of  women,  and  in  reply  to 
a  question  from  him,  replied: 

"I? —  Oh,  I  have  done  nothing  worth 
telling.  I  ruined  my  health  by  over-study 
and  careless  living  at  school,  and  here  I  am, 
a  cumberer  of  the  earth.  How  perfectly 


WITCH'S    GOLD  115 

inane  and  worthless  I  must  seem  to  men 
who  dig  in  the  hills  as  you  do.  You  are 
facts,  factors.  I  am  only  a  shadow  soon  to 
pass  away." 

Some  men  would  have  hastened  to  be 
complimentary,  but  Clement  remained  si 
lent,  trying  to  understand  and  meet  her 
mood  in  some  helpful  way,  and  she,  feeling 
the  rebuke  in  his  silence,  added  in  a  firmer 
voice: 

"  But  if  I  am  permitted  to  live  I  shall  be 
different.  I  can't  dig  gold  or  build  bridges, 
but  I  will  do  something." 

"  First  of  all,  get  well,"  he  said,  and 
again  his  words  had  the  force  of  a  command. 
"  Give  me  your  hand." 

She  complied,  and  he  took  it  in  a  firm 
clasp.  "  Now  I  want  you  to  promise  me 
that  you'll  turn  your  mind  from  darkness 
to  the  light,  from  the  canons  to  the  peaks 


116  WITCH'S    GOLD 

and  that  you  will  determine  to  live.  Do  you 
promise? " 

She  smiled  and  the  warm  blood  again 
tingled  in  her  cheek.  "  I  promise." 

He  dropped  her  hand  and  rose.  *  Very 
well.  I  shall  see  that  you  keep  that  prom 


ise." 


They  returned  to  the  hotel  in  silence, 
threading  their  way  through  the  throngs  of 
those  who  were  converging  to  the  sparkling 
spring  with  bottles,  jugs  and  cans,  minded 
to  secure  their  noonday  draught  of  water. 

At  the  foot  of  the  stairway  he  stooped 
without  a  word  and  took  her  in  his  arm  and 
she  rested  her  slim  left  arm  upon  his 
shoulder  like  a  tired  trustful  child.  "  How 
pitifully  light  she  is ! "  was  his  thought. 

As  he  put  her  down  beside  her  easy  chair 
she  exclaimed:  "How  strong  you  are! 
You  carry  me  as  if  I  were  a  doll." 


WITCH'S    GOLD  117 

"  That's  what  comes  from  the  use  of  pick 
and  shovel,"  he  replied,  with  a  downward 
flashing  glance.  "  You  must  sleep  well  to 
night.  I  shall  expect  you  to  be  better  to 


morrow." 


And  with  that  he  left  her. 

Meanwhile  Sarah  Ross  went  to  her 
brother  in  restless  indignation.  "  Ben,  this 
is  scandalous.  I  don't  see  how  you  can  think 
of  allowing  Ellice  to  be  taken  possession  of 
like  this.  It's  uncivilised." 

"  Well,  let's  try  the  uncivilised  for  a 
while,"  he  replied.  '  We  came  here  in  com 
plete  despair.  Just  keep  that  in  mind, 
Sally.  We  had  tried  the  civilised  till  Ellice 
had  no  interest  in  anything  on  earth  and  no 
fear  of  death.  I've  heard  you  say  a  hun 
dred  times :  '  Oh  if  we  could  only  interest 
the  child  in  something  ' — and  now " 

"  I  know  I  have,  but  I  didn't  mean  to 


118  WITCH'S    GOLD 

have  her  scandalising  us  all  in  the  eyes  of 

our  neighbours " 

"  But  these  are  not  our  neighbours — and 
if  they  were,  what  does  it  matter?  "  he  slowly 
replied.  "  I  tell  you  I  am  grateful  to  this 
young  fellow;  I'd  be  grateful  to  a  red  In 
dian  if  she  were  interested  in  him.  She's 
better.  That's  enough  for  me.  The  fact 
that  she  remembers  the  man  gives  me  hope. 
Furthermore,  Mr.  Clement  is  a  millionaire 
— a  great  catch — whereas  Ellice  is  a  poor, 
thin,  pale  daughter  of  a  hard-working  mer 
chant  who  can  ill  afford  to  be  here.  I  don't 
pretend  to  understand  his  interest  in  our 
poor  child  when  he  might  take  his  choice 
from  the  beautiful  and  rosy  girls  swarming 
about  here.  Be  reasonable  now.  I  have 
offered  all  I  own  to  any  physician  who 
would  give  me  back  my  daughter.  I've 
gone  beyond  any  torn-fool  notions  of  con- 


WITCH'S    GOLD  119 

ventionality — if  this  young  fellow  interests 
her — does  her  good — makes  her  smile " 

"  But  you  don't  know  what  he  may  de 
mand." 

"  I  don't  care  what  he  demands  if  only  his 
demand  stirs  her" 

Sarah  Ross  admitted  the  force  of  this, 
and  yet  she  could  not  but  wince  and  grow 
hot  with  indignation  when  Clement  joined 
Ellice  in  the  hall  or  helped  her  down  the 
stairway.  She  was  sensitive  to  remark  also 
— and  there  was  plenty  to  overhear,  for  the 
permanent  guests  soon  knew  them  both  by 
sight  and  began  to  build  a  pretty  romance 
about  them. 

"  They  were  lovers  years  ago,  but  he  was 
poor  and  they  were  separated.  Now  that 
he  is  rich  the  father  relents — but  too  late. 
She  is  dying  of  consumption,  poor  dear." 
In  such  wise  the  story  ran,  and  though  Aunt 


120  WITCH'S    GOLD 

Sarah  struggled  sharply  to  discredit  it,  the 
fiction  persisted. 

As  for  Clement,  he  was  a  man  reborn. 
He  was  conscious  of  no  other  pursuit,  no 
other  time.  All  his  waking  hours  were 
given  to  devising  ways  and  means  to  inter 
est  and  benefit  his  love.  Each  day  they 
met  at  breakfast,  and  each  day  at  ten 
o'clock  they  walked,  and  then  when  the  mid 
day  storm-clouds  rolled  round  the  great 
peak,  they  sat  on  the  little  balcony  and 
watched  the  majestic  struggle,  till  the 
lightning  ceased  to  flame,  the  thunder  to 
roll,  and  the  sun  broke  forth  once  more, 
then  she  went  to  her  couch  to  sleep,  while  he 
rode  away  on  his  swift  horse  into  the  cool, 
rain-wet  lower  levels  of  the  valley,  too  sub 
limated  in  thought  and  purpose  to  speak 
with  any  other  human  being. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

SEEING  his  daughter's  slow  but  sure 
improvement  in  health,  Mr.  Ross  took 
a  cottage  which  stood  just  above  the  hotel 
and  brought  from  home  such  of  Ellice's  fur 
nishings  as  he  thought  would  please  her,  and 
in  this  home  Clement  was  a  constant  visitor. 
From  the  terrace  they  often  sat  to  see  the 
sun  go  down.  He  took  many  of  his  meals 
with  them,  and  secure  from  observation 
watched  the  colour  come  back  to  the  sick 
girl's  face.  Day  by  day  a  sweet  content,  a 
delicious  relaxation  came  to  Ellice.  She 
began  to  take  an  interest  in  housework, 
and  this  was  a  great  joy  to  her  father. 
Once  she  said  to  Clement:  "  I  must  be  get- 


122  WITCH'S    GOLD 

ting  well.  The  days  go  quickly  now  and  I 
feel  so  much  stronger." 

"  Before  I  met  you  I  was  a  miner.  Now 
I  am  merely  your  physician." 

"  It  is  a  good  thing  you  are  not  dependent 
on  your  fees,"  she  laughingly  remarked  and 
asked:  "  How  do  you  like  your  new  pro 
fession?  " 

"  I  find  it  absorbing,"  he  replied.  "  I 
think  I  have  a  call  to  it." 

One  by  one  the  weeks  went  by  and  one  by 
one  the  cottages  were  closed  and  the  hotels 
emptied.  Autumn  was  near  and  the  peo 
ple  of  the  plain,  fortified  by  their  stay  in 
the  high  places,  returned  to  their  dull  little 
towns  to  talk  of  the  air  and  water  of  the 
peaks  as  those  who  have  dreamed  pleasant 
dreams  recount  them  in  the  midst  of  toil. 
Clement  could  not  find  time  nor  resolution 
to  make  the  visit  home  which  he  had 


WITCH'S    GOLD  123 

planned,  and  was  hard  pressed  to  find  ex 
cuses  with  which  to  answer  his  sister's  re 
proaches. 

How  could  he  leave  now  when  every  day 
showed  most  fascinating  increase  of  colour 
and  love  of  life  in  Ellice?  She  had  come  to 
count  upon  him  more  largely  than  upon  any 
other  human  being — that  he  could  see. 
And  she  to  him  was  both  sun  and  moon- 
so  all  other  concerns  waited  on  this  contest 
between  love  and  death. 

Obscure  reports  of  all  this  reached  Biddy 
and  Dan  and  they  had  their  jovial  fling  at 
"  the  new  member  of  the  firm,"  but  they 
did  not  repeat  their  jokes,  for  his  serious 
ness  awed  them.  Eldred  made  a  visit  to 
the  springs,  shrewdly  calculating  that  this 
was  the  time  to  push  his  suit — now  while 
his  opponent  was  absorbed  in  a  love  af 
fair.  He  had  found  allies  in  a  firm  of 


124  WITCH'S    GOLD 

lawyers  in  Denver  who  were  hardly  bet 
ter  than  blackmailers,  and  together,  they 
began  their  campaign  of  lying  and  vilifi 
cation. 

Hitherto  Clement  had  paid  but  little  at 
tention  to  Eldred's  attempt  to  blacken  his 
reputation,  but  he  now  became  very  uneasy 
lest  Ellice  might  be  the  recipient  of  anony 
mous  letters — for  his  enemy  was  quite  cap 
able  of  such  warfare.  There  was  but  one 
paper  in  the  state  willing  to  publish  articles 
against  him — and  that,  happily,  was  one 
which  neither  Mr.  Ross  nor  his  daughter 
would  see  unless  marked  copies  were  sent 
to  them. 

To  warn  Mr.  Ross  was  his  first  action 
after  one  of  Eldred's  abusive  letters.  He 
told  the  merchant  the  substantial  facts  in 
the  case  and  said:  "  This  man  and  his 
partners  say  they  are  determined  to  bring 


WITCH'S    GOLD  125 

the  whole  contention  into  court,  but  know 
ing  they  have  no  case  they  are  likelier  to  at 
tack  me  in  the  hope  of  getting  blackmail. 
In  case  they  send  anything  to  you  or  to  your 
daughter  remember  that  the  facts  are  pre 
cisely  as  I  have  stated  them.  I  would  not 
have  your  daughter  read  these  lying  articles 
for  half  my  mine — and  yet,  I  dislike  yield 
ing  to  such  rogues." 

"  Don't  do  it,"  protested  Ross.  "  I  be 
lieve  in  opposing  every  such  man  and  his 
graft.  We  know  and  trust  you  perfectly. 
Be  quite  easy  on  that  score." 

One  day  a  short,  stout,  smiling  man  with 
black  beard  accosted  him  in  the  hotel  ro 
tunda.  "  Are  you  Mr.  Richard  Clement?  " 
he  asked. 

"  I  am." 

"  I  would  like  to  have  a  talk  with  you. 
My  name  is  Wenowski — Paul  Wenowski, 


126  WITCH'S    GOLD 

late  of  Chicago,  now  of  Denver.  You 
have  heard  of  me — yes?  " 

Clement  looked  down  upon  him  in  silence 
till  the  smile  froze  on  the  other  man's  lips. 
"  Yes,  I've  heard  of  you.  You  are  El- 
dred's  lawyer.  No,  I  have  nothing  to  say 
to  you.  Nothing  to  talk  about,  nothing  to 
argue  upon  and  no  compromise  to  make. 
I  know  your  ways  of  business  and  if  you 
pluck  me  by  the  arm  again  or  speak  to  me 
again  I  will  pitch  you  into  the  street." 

He  was  very  angry  and  the  blackmailer 
slipped  away  and  troubled  him  no  more. 

It  was  not  so  easy  to  get  rid  of  his  own 
sense  of  unworthiness  as  he  went  into  his 
love's  pure  presence  that  evening.  "  How 
far  away  she  is  from  all  passion,  all  envy, 
all  deceit,"  he  thought  as  she  met  him  on  the 
terrace  where  she  had  been  reading. 

She  had  become  marvellously  acute  in 


WITCH'S    GOLD  127 

divining  his  moods  and  after  a  glance  into 
his  face  she  said :  *  You're  troubled. 
You're  not  quite  yourself  to-night." 

"  A  business  matter,"  he  answered.  "  It's 
really  nothing,  but  it  did  annoy  me  a  little. 
I  will  forget  it.  You  shall  be  my  physician 
to-night." 

:<  That  will  be  a  privilege — and  besides  I 
am  so  nearly  well  now  that  I  must  begin 
to  do  for  those  who  have  done  so  much  for 


me." 


She  was  indeed  beginning  to  glow  again 
with  the  warmth  and  colour  which  was  hers 
by  right  of  youth.  A  delicate  roundness 
was  coming  to  her  cheeks.  Her  bosom  was 
borne  with  marked  buoyancy  and  grace, 
and  as  he  looked  upon  her  Clement's  blood 
stirred  with  an  exultant  realisation  that  she 
was  no  longer  an  invalid  and  that  to  him 
she  owed  some  part  of  her  miraculous  re- 


128  WITCH'S    GOLD 

co very.  In  this  mood  he  said:  "It  is  al 
most  time  for  us  to  make  our  pilgrimage 
to  the  sweet  water  pool." 

"  I  am  ready  any  time,"  she  replied. 
"Let  us  go  to-morrow." 

"  Perhaps  not  to-morrow — but  soon.  It 
is  a  long,  hard  climb  and  we  must  wait  till 
you  are  able  to  ride  far.  I  do  not  think  it 
proper  to  approach  it  on  a  burro." 

She  coloured.  "  You  think  I  cannot 
ride  a  horse  but  I  can.  When  am  I  to  be 
allowed  to  resume  my  habit? " 

"  Any  time  now,"  he  said.  "  I  have  just 
the  horse  for  you." 

"  Oh,  have  you!     Then  let  me  begin  to 


morrow." 


"  Very  well — if  your   doctor   and   your 
family  consent." 

"  Are  you  not  my  doctor?  " 

"  I  will  be  your  riding  master." 


WITCH'S    GOLD  129 

"I'm  not  sure  I  like  that — riding  masters 
are  very  autocratic." 

"  I  think  we  may  begin  to-morrow,"  he 
said,  and  his  tone  was  gravely  tender. 
'  You  seem  wonderfully  well  to-day.  You 
are  so  young  and  lovely  I  am  afraid  of  you. 
I  cannot  believe  that  you  really  are  my 
patient." 

She  laughed  at  him  in  comprehension. 
"  I  am  not  the  thing  I  was.  I  don't  under 
stand  it  myself — but  to-day  as  I  woke  from 
my  afternoon  nap  I  fairly  leaped  to  my 
feet.  I  felt  like  dancing.  I  could  dance 
now " 

"  Don't— please  don't!"  he  called  in 
alarm.  Her  amusement  deepened.  "  Oh, 
I'm  not  really  going  to  try — now — but  I 
am  going  to  dance  with  you  some  day  just 
to  show  you  I  can  do  it." 

"  You'll  have  to  teach  me  first." 


130  WITCH'S    GOLD 

"Can't  you  dance?" 

"  I  could  if  I  knew  how,  as  Dan  would 
say ; '  I've  the  strength  f er  it ' !  " 

'  You  teach  me  to  ride  and  I'll  teach  you 
to  dance —     Is  it  a  bargain?  " 

"A  solemn  pledge,"  he  answered,  but 
something  in  his  look  caused  her  to  say: 
'  You  think  I'm  hysterical  but  I'm  not. 
I'm  only  gay.  I  know  I'm  going  to  get 
well.  Hitherto  I've  believed  it  because  you 
made  me  believe  it,  now  I  am  believing  it  for 
myself." 


CHAPTER   IX 

HEREAFTER  as  Ellice  grew  in 
JL  strength  Clement  lost  in  assertive- 
ness — in  his  feeling  of  command.  His  re 
lationship  with  her  was  no  longer  simple. 
So  long  as  she  wore  the  dress  of  the  invalid 
his  motives  had  been  simple,  direct  and  very 
lofty.  She  was  then  a  soul  under  convic 
tion  of  decay,  but  he  began  now  to  perceive 
that  she  was  a  distinguished  character,  that 
she  stood  in  better  social  position  with  a  far 
wider  knowledge  of  the  world  than  himself. 
The  distinction  of  his  newly  acquired  mil 
lions  grew  to  be  a  very  poor  possession  in 
his  own  opinion — and  at  last  as  he  acknowl 
edged  his  love  for  her  and  his  hope  of  win 
ning  her  he  finally  reached  such  self -con- 


132  WITCH'S    GOLD 

fessed  poverty  of  mind,  such  grossness  of 
body  that  he  wondered  at  her  continued  tol 
eration  of  him.  The  part  he  now  played 
had  an  element  of  hypocrisy  in  it.  He  was 
her  lover  in  a  very  human  way.  A  certain 
guilt  attached  to  the  keen  disturbing  pleas 
ure  which  the  touch  of  her  hand  now  gave 
him.  Once  that  hand  was  cold — an  object 
of  mournful  beauty,  now  it  was  pink- 
palmed,  magnetic,  with  the  feminine  appeal, 

He  wondered  whether  she  was  aware  of 
his  fall  from  the  fine  impersonal  dispassion 
ate  attitude  of  his  first  meeting,  and  whether 
it  would  not  seem  to  her  a  base  thing  to  know 
how  completely  he  had  lost  sight  of  the  in 
valid  in  her  and  how  deeply  she  stirred  him 
as  a  woman. 

Her  returning  sense  of  humour,  her  gen 
tle  raillery,  disconcerted  him.  At  times 
she  fairly  bewildered  him  by  a  kind  of  girl- 


WITCH'S    GOLD  133 

ish  coquetry — but  these  moods  were  not  fre 
quent,  for  the  most  part  she  kept  to  the 
gentle  gravity  of  her  first  manner. 

As  she  no  longer  needed  his  arm  for  sup 
port  he  found  it  a  kind  of  treason  to  offer 
it  as  an  act  of  gallantry.  In  fact,  in  that 
small  act  was  typified  the  change  which  he 
had  now  assumed.  At  first  she  had  seemed 
to  him  like  an  angelic  child.  Death's 
shadow  had  made  him  bold — had  kept  him 
impersonal,  high-natured,  but  now,  having 
come  to  love  her  in  this  indefensible  absorb 
ing  fashion,  every  word  he  spoke  seemed  to 
have  a  double  meaning.  He  referred  but 
seldom  to  his  mission  and  his  visits  grew 
more  and  more  measured,  carefully  ac 
counted  for. 

As  for  Ellice,  if  she  perceived  this  change 
in  him  she  remained  serenely  untroubled  by 
it.  She  spent  many  hours  sitting  with 


134  WITCH'S    GOLD 

smiling  lips  and  half -shut  eyes,  thinking  of 
her  lover.  She  imagined  herself  drifting 
•  back  to  life  on  a  current  of  mountain  air, 
companioned  by  splendid  clouds.  Her  con 
tent  was  like  to  the  lotus-eaters'  languor — it 
held  no  thought  of  time  or  tide. 

That  she  idealised  the  young  miner  was 
true.  He  was  a  constant  source  of  surprise 
to  her.  His  grace,  his  dignity,  his  innate 
delicacy  charmed  her.  All  the  small  ameni 
ties  of  conduct  which  he  had  once  possessed 
came  back  to  him.  His  thought  rose  easily 
to  the  highest  things.  He  never  mentioned 
business  unless  she  asked  a  question. 

He,  on  his  part,  studied  now  to  please 
her  as  he  had  once  studied  to  bring  back 
her  love  of  life.  He  did  not  exactly  aban 
don  his  business,  but  he  came  to  superintend 
his  superintendents.  His  mine  was  a  source 
of  deepest  satisfaction  and  the  fact  that  he 


WITCH'S    GOLD  135 

could  trust  Dan  to  run  it  gave  him  con 
tinued  leisure.  However,  by  means  of  a 
telephone  line  he  was  able  to  direct  each 
day's  doings  from  his  hotel.  He  permitted 
himself  the  luxury  of  a  suite  of  cheerful 
rooms  and  little  by  little  assumed  the  posi 
tion  to  which  his  income  entitled  him.  He 
set  aside  a  certain  time  each  day  for  books 
and  magazines,  struggling  hard  "  to  catch 
up  "  with  the  latest  literature  in  order  that 
he  might  meet  his  love  on  common  ground. 
If  she  referred  to  any  author,  even  in  the 
most  casual  way,  he  made  mental  note  of 
the  name  and  ordered  a  set  of  his  works  at 
once. 

He  apologised  occasionally  for  this.  "  I 
know  something  of  chemistry  and  mineral 
ogy,  a  smitch  of  geology,  and  a  whole  lot 
about  milling  processes,  but  very  little  of 
art  and  literature,"  he  said  to  her  once. 


136  WITCH'S    GOLD 

"  But  give  me  time,  I  am  not  so  hopeless  as 
you  might  think.  My  training  at  college 
was  not  entirely  bad.  I  can  read  and  I  can 
remember  what  I  read.  So  much  for  a 
good  habit." 

"But  think  of  it!"  she  answered.  "I 
know  only  books." 

These  were  glorious  days  for  them  both. 
She  was  able  each  day  to  walk  a  little 
farther  up  the  canons  and  to  sit  a  little 
longer  in  the  sun.  She  ate  with  better  relish 
and  at  last  Mr.  Ross  decided  to  purchase 
a  house  in  Colorado  Springs  in  order 
that  his  daughter  might  make  herself  per 
manently  at  home.  He  was  confident  now 
that  she  was  going  to  get  well,  but  the  doc 
tors  all  agreed  that  she  must  continue  to  live 
in  an  atmosphere  which  was  tonic. 

She  took  decided  interest  in  the  house  and 
in  the  rearrangement  of  its  furniture.  The 


WITCH'S    GOLD  137 

home  stood  on  a  bold  bank  overlooking  the 
valley  and  her  own  windows  faced  directly 
upon  the  mountains.  The  dining  room 
also  permitted  a  view  of  the  peaks.  Ellice 
admired  the  house  with  its  wide  sunny 
rooms,  and  said  that  her  only  objection  to 
leaving  the  cottage  at  Manitou  lay  in  the 
thought  of  the  long  miles  it  put  between 
herself  and  the  magic  pool. 

To  this  Clement  replied:  "There  are 
the  street  cars  to  the  foot  of  the  trail." 

"  But  wouldn't  that  take  away  the  spell?  " 

"  There  are  no  wheel-marks  on  the  trail," 
he  answered  enigmatically.  "  It  does  not 
matter  in  what  luxury  we  cross  the  valley; 
to  reach  the  magic  fountain  we  must  climb." 

The  new  house  was  of  redstone,  with  a 
tiled  roof,  a  fine  square,  simple  structure 
in  the  "  modified  Mexican  "  style,  and  pos 
sessed  a  broad  piazza  which  gave  a  most  glo- 


138  WITCH'S    GOLD 

rious  view  of  the  range,  and  every  afternoon 
at  five  Clement  took  tea  with  Ellice,  after 
which  they  often  went  for  a  short  walk  be 
fore  dinner.  Each  morning,  unless  pre 
vented  by  some  unavoidable  business,  he  took 
her  out  on  horse-back.  Each  day  these  rides 
grew  longer  and  her  mastery  of  her  horse 
more  noticeable,  but  Clement  put  off  the 
visit  to  the  spring.  "  You  must  be  able  to 
gallop  hard  for  ten  miles  first,"  he  kept  re 
peating,  but  in  truth  he  had  other  and  much 
more  important  reasons  for  delay. 

One  by  one  the  autumn  flowers  bloomed 
and  seeded  and  one  by  one  the  happy  days 
slipped  by  like  golden  beads  on  a  silver 
thread.  The  higher  peaks  whitened  with 
snow  now  and  again — each  time  a  little 
deeper,  but  the  sunlight  still  fell  warm  and 
yellow  on  the  floor  of  the  broad  veranda. 
The  mountains  seemed  to  grow  in  majesty 


WITCH'S    GOLD  139 

as  they  took  on  their  capes  of  ermine  and 
the  air  was  each  morning  more  crystalline. 

Clement,  with  eyes  to  these  changes, 
knew  that  the  visit  to  the  spring  could  no 
longer  be  safely  postponed;  therefore,  one 
especially  beautiful  warm  morning  he  said: 

"  Are  you  feeling  particularly  well  this 
morning? " 

She  turned  to  him  with  glowing,  expect 
ant  face.  "  Yes.  Why? " 

"  Because  this  is  the  day  we  go  to  the 
magic  pool." 

"  At  last!  "  she  exclaimed,  feeling  the  ex 
citement  in  his  own  voice.  "  I'm  so  glad." 

"  Very  well.  I  will  send  the  horses  on 
ahead  and  we'll  drive  to  the  foot  of  the 
trail." 

"  Oh,  no!     I  want  to  ride  the  whole  way." 

"  I  am  afraid  it  will  not  be  wise." 

"  I  feel  perfectly  well  to-day,  please  let's 


140  WITCH'S    GOLD 

not  spoil  the  trip  by  driving.  I  have  a 
sentiment  against  it." 

"  What  would  the  doctor  say?  " 

"  The  doctor — do  you  still  heed  what  he 
says?" 

He  laughed.  "  I  have  a  confession  to 
make — I  have  deceived  you.  The  legend 
says  that  in  order  to  have  the  water  heal 
you  you  must  walk.  But  I  will  lead  my 
horse  for  you  to  ride  on  the  downward  trail 
in  case  you  feel  the  need  of  it.  We  will 
ride  to  the  foot  of  the  trail,  then,  and  walk 
the  rest  of  the  way." 

She  drew  herself  up  with  a  gesture  of 
physical  pride.  "  I  feel  able  to  walk  the 
whole  way  to-day." 

With  a  glance  which  rose  from  her  proud 
bosom  to  her  sparkling  eyes  he  exultantly 
replied:  "I  believe  you  could  do  it — but 
all  the  same  we  would  better  ride  to  the  foot 


WITCH'S    GOLD  141 

of  the  mountain.  There  is  no  virtue  in  walk 
ing  through  the  highway." 

In  such  spirit  they  galloped  away  side  by 
side,  and  they  had  lost  none  of  their  gaiety 
as  they  set  off  up  the  mountain  road.  On 
all  sides  the  frost-painted  foliage  sparkled. 
Above  them  the  great  snow-white  crest  of 
the  peak  glistened  in  a  cloudless  sky.  The 
stream  at  their  feet  sang  in  a  tumult  of 
laughter,  a  riot  of  rushing,  sweet  water,  and 
the  girl's  heart  overflowing  with  rapture  of 
the  beauties  and  love  of  mysteries  about 
her,  performed  prodigies  of  valour.  She 
fairly  danced  up  the  path,  and  Clement, 
who  was  behind  with  her  horse's  rein  over 
his  arm,  became  apprehensive  and  called 
out: 

"  Not  so  fast!  It  is  a  long  way  up  there. 
I  warn  you  the  spring  is  almost  at  timber- 
line." 


142  WITCH'S    GOLD 

To  this  warning  she  paid  small  heed. 
With  shining  face  she  replied:  "  I  feel  so 
light,  so  active,  it  seems  as  if  I  could  never 
tire." 

'  Yes,  I  know,  but  it  is  always  harder  to 
come  down  the  hill  than  to  go  up,"  he  re 
plied  out  of  the  fullness  of  his  experience. 

For  a  time  they  kept  to  the  wide  road 
which  climbed  steadily,  but  at  last  he 
called  to  her. 

"  Here  we  enter  the  trail,"  he  said,  indi 
cating  a  narrow  path.  "  Lead  on  and  I  will 
follow." 

"  Not  too  far  ahead,"  she  exclaimed,  the 
least  bit  alarmed. 

"  Only  two  steps,"  he  answered,  amused 
at  her  sudden  timidity.  "  Just  so  I  may 
not  tread  on  your  heels." 

'  You  needn't  laugh.  I  know  you  hunt 
bears  up  here  and  I  don't  want  to  be  eaten 


WITCH'S    GOLD  143 

up — especially  not  now  when  I  am  about 
to  be  healed  by  the  magic  springs." 

"  I  am  just  as  anxious  to  save  you  from 
the  bears  as  anyone,"  he  answered.  "  Be 
sides  the  bears  have  all  been  killed — more's 
the  pity." 

They  climbed  for  some  time  in  compara 
tive  silence  and  at  length  came  out  upon  a 
pleasant  grassy  slope. 

"  Oh,  how  much  prettier  it  is  up  here !  " 
she  exclaimed,  her  eyes  bright  with  excite 
ment.  "  Did  you  ever  see  more  beautiful 
colour?  It  is  fairyland.  See  the  jewels 
under  my  feet."  She  pointed  down  at  the 
gold  and  bronze  and  scarlet  and  ruby  of 
geranium  leaves  and  grouse  berries.  "  I 
didn't  know  the  heights  could  be  so  beau 
tiful." 

He  smiled  indulgently.  "  You  tourists 
think  you  know  Colorado  when  you've 


144  WITCH'S    GOLD 

crossed   it  once  on  the  railway.     This  is 
the   Colorado   which   the   traveller   seldom 


sees." 


She  was  in  rapture  over  the  glory  of 
aspen,  the  waving  yuccas  of  the  hillsides, 
and  the  radiant  dapple  of  light  and  shadow 
beneath  the  groves  of  firs.  The  cactus  and 
the  ever-present  sage  bush  of  the  lower 
levels  had  disappeared,  ripened  crow's-foot 
and  blue- joint  grasses  swung  in  the  wind 
like  golden  grain.  The  bright  flame  of  the 
painted  cup  and  the  purple  of  clumps  of 
asters  still  lighted  up  the  aisles  of  the  pines 
in  sheltered  places. 

"  There  are  many  more  in  August,"  he 
explained.  '  The  frost  has  swept  them 
all  away.  To  know  all  the  mountain's 
charm  you  should  come  every  day  in  the 
year.  There  is  a  wonderful  music  here  in 
the  spring  when  the  snow  begins  to  melt 


WITCH'S    GOLD  145 

and  the  falling  streams  drip  and  tinkle  and 
roar.  It's  like  the  invisible  movement  of  a 
fairy  army." 

"  Is  this  the  stream  from  our  spring? " 
she  asked. 

"  Yes,  we  cross  it  many  times  before  we 
come  to  the  spring  itself." 

"  How  amber  clear  its  ripples  are!  It 
really  looks  like  the  elixir  of  life.  May  I 
drink  now?  " 

"  Are  you  very  thirsty? "  he  asked,  re 
luctantly. 

"  Yes— may  I  drink?  " 

"  Can't  you  wait?  It  will  be  so  much 
sweeter  when  you  reach  the  spring."  He 
came  closer  to  her  and  studied  the  heaving 
of  her  bosom.  "  Are  you  tired?  " 

"  Not  at  all." 

'  You  must  not  do  too  much,"  he  tender 
ly  admonished.  "  If  you  find  yourself  out 


146  WITCH'S    GOLD 

of  breath,  stop  and  ride.  I  feel  my  respon 
sibility  very  deeply  to-day." 

"  I  want  to  be  thirsty.  I  want  to  walk 
and  I'm  going  to  drink  of  the  spring  as 
you  prescribe  it." 

He  laughed.  "  By  the  way  you  lead  me 
up  this  trail  I  begin  to  think  you  need  a  sed 
ative.  I  never  finish  wondering  whether 
you  are  the  same  girl  I  first  saw  at  the  foun 
tain." 

She  flashed  a  glance  back  at  him.  "  I'm 
not,  I  assure  you.  I'm  another  person. 
I'm  made  over  entirely  new." 

'  That  shows  what  three  months  of  this 
climate  will  do." 

"  Climate  did  not  do  it." 

"What  did  do  it?" 

"You  did,"  she  kept  marching  steadily 
forward,  her  head  held  very  straight  in 
deed,  "  Doctor  Clement." 


WITCH'S    GOLD  147 

"  I  wish  you  would  wait  a  moment,"  he 
pleaded  with  eager  wish  to  meet  her  eyes 
at  that  instant. 

"  I  am  very  thirsty — I  want  to  reach  the 
spring." 

"But,  dear  girl,  you  can't  keep  this 
pace." 

"  Can't  I?    Watch  me  and  see." 

She  seemed  possessed  of  some  miraculous 
strength  for  she  mounted  the  steep  trail  into 
the  rarefied  air — each  moment  thinner — as 
lightly  as  a  fawn,  and  Clement  in  an  agony 
of  apprehension  lest  she  should  over-task 
her  lungs  and  fall  fainting  in  the  path,  kept 
close  behind  her  checked  and  hampered  by 
his  horse's  bridle-rein.  His  own  heart  was 
gay  from  the  effect  of  her  mystic  glance, 
her  happy  words,  and  his  eyes  followed  her 
lithe  figure  with  the  lover's  pride  and  joy 
mixed  with  the  apprehension  of  the  physi- 


148  WITCH'S    GOLD 

cian  responsible  for  the  welfare  of  a  pa 
tient. 

It  was  past  noon  when  they  came  out  of 
the  aspens  and  pines,  into  the  little  smooth 
slope  of  meadow  which  lay  between  the  low 
peaks  which  were  already  crusted  with 
snow.  In  the  midst  of  the  orange  and 
purple  and  red  of  the  grasses  lay  a  deep, 
dark  pool  of  water — as  beautiful  as  his 
sweetheart's  eyes,  it  seemed  to  him. 

"  There  is  the  spring,"  Clement  called 
to  the  girl.  "  There  bubbles  the  water  of 
life." 

"  I  knew  it,"  she  said,  "and  oh,  I  am 
thirsty." 

"  Wait,"  he  called  out.  "  I  must  drink 
with  you.  Only  in  that  way  will  the 
draught  bestow  health." 

He  hastened  to  the  edge  of  the  pool  and 
dipped  a  cup  into  the  water  and  handed  it 


WITCH'S    GOLD  149 

to  her.  "  Don't  touch  it  till  my  own  is 
filled,"  he  warningly  repeated.  Then  rais 
ing  his  own  cup  he  solemnly  added :  "  Now 
let  us  drink  confusion  to  disease." 

She  touched  her  cup  to  his  and  their  eyes 
met.  Then  she  cried  out:  "  Confusion  to 
every  ailment  in  the  world,"  and  drank. 

"  Confusion  to  sorrow! "  he  said. 

The  flush  on  her  cheek  deepened  as  she 
looked  upon  him,  so  strong,  so  handsome, 
so  confident — and  so  tender. 

"  Oh,  isn't  it  delicious?  I  must  have 
another." 

He  filled  the  cup  again.  "  Now  I  want 
to  drink  to  you — "  he  said,  solemnly,  "  I 
want  to  pledge  my  life  to  your  service — 
my  life  and  all  I  am." 

She  grew  a  little  pale.  His  intensity  of 
emotion,  his  gravity  awed  her  and  she  was 
very  serious  as  she  answered:  "  I  don't 


150  WITCH'S    GOLD 

think  you  ought.  I  don't  think  I  am  quite 
worthy." 

"  Let  me  be  judge  of  that."  He  spoke 
quickly,  almost  sharply.  "  Shall  I  drink?  " 

She  drew  back  a  little  from  the  ardour  of 
his  eyes  and  stood  leaning  against  the 
browsing  horse.  After  a  little  hesitation 
she  answered  archly:  "If  you  are  very 
thirsty." 

He  drank,  then  came  straight  toward  her. 
"  Henceforth  I  am  entirely  yours,"  he  said, 
and  in  his  eyes  was  demand  as  well  as 
worship. 

She  shrank  from  him  in  sudden  timidity 
and  weakness,  saying  a  little  hurriedly: 
"  Help  me  into  the  saddle,  I  think  I  must 
ride  down,  I  am  tired  I  find." 

His  face  took  on  lines  of  deep  concern. 

"  You  must  not  give  way  to  that  feeling. 
Remember  the  magic  draught." 


WITCH'S    GOLD  151 

He  placed  her  upon  the  horse  and  after  a 
little  rest,  with  the  bridle  rein  on  his  arm,  be 
gan  the  descent  in  silence,  which  she  seemed 
to  desire. 

Over  them  the  great  snow  peaks  took  on 
the  golden  light  of  afternoon,  and  the  shad 
ows  deepened  in  the  canons  below,  the 
stream  sang  with  a  graver  note  and  in  the 
man's  heart  was  the  uneasiness  of  one  who 
has  yielded  to  an  impulse  to  claim  that  to 
which  after  all  he  has  no  right.  On  the 
girl's  face  lay  the  smile  of  a  musing  sover 
eign.  She  who  had  given  up  both  love  and 
life  was  about  to  be  wooed  as  other  women 
were,  by  a  lover  whose  passion  had  no  trace 
of  pity! 

The  realisation  of  his  desire,  his  change  of 
attitude  filled  her  with  pride,  with  exulta 
tion.  Truly  the  world  was  a  good  place 
after  all  and  it  was  rapture  to  be  alive. 


CHAPTER   X 

BUT  this  rapture  did  not  last.  She 
went  to  the  solitude  of  her  room  that 
night  troubled  by  a  thought  which  she  had 
put  aside  till  this  moment  as  a  bridge  in  the 
distance — a  bridge  which  she  might  never 
be  called  upon  to  cross.  This  decision  in 
volved  a  question  of  her  right  to  be  a 
wife.  Being  a  woman  and  a  thoughtful 
woman  she  could  not  go  blindly,  led  by  her 
newly  acquired  rapture,  into  a  relation  that 
might  mean  transmission  of  her  weakness 
to  other  and  innocent  little  beings. 

She  awoke  to  the  necessity  of  knowing 
the  exact  character  of  her  ailment.  If  it 
were  of  such  a  kind  as  all  the  medical  world 
agreed  could  be  inherited —  "  Then  I  must 


WITCH'S    GOLD  153 

go  my  way  alone,"  she  decided  with  a  pang 
of  fear  at  her  heart,  and  as  she  looked  into 
the  future  and  saw  herself  growing  old 
alone  and  childless,  the  glow  of  health  which 
had  come  back  to  her  seemed  a  mockery — 
an  ironic  punishment. 

She  revolted  from  this.  "  It  can't  be 
that,"  she  exclaimed.  "  I  am  well.  I  feel 
health  in  every  drop  of  my  blood.  What 
ever  my  weakness  I  have  conquered  it.  I 
know  I  am  to  grow  stronger." 

It  was  hard  to  seek  counsel  on  such  a 
point.  She  resented  the  necessity  bitterly 
— and  yet  her  mother  had  died  early  in  life 
— perhaps  from  some  inherited  weakness. 
Oh,  that  mysterious  and  potent  law  which 
forces  the  child  to  partake  of  the  weaknesses 
as  well  as  the  strength  of  the  parent! — was 
it  to  come  now  between  her  love  and  its  ful 
fillment? 


154  WITCH'S    GOLD 

She  met  him  at  a  dinner  the  next  day, 
outwardly  the  same  but  with  an  inward 
difference.  Her  clear  eyes  confronted  him 
with  the  same  confidence,  but  her  lips  be 
trayed  a  new  and  subtle  distraction.  Her 
thought  was  less  collected,  her  mind  fitful. 
His  near  presence  now  brought  a  weakness 
to  her  feet — a  sweet  charm  to  her  heart. 

She  spoke  of  the  spring  and  the  draught 
of  its  water  laughingly,  but  yet  seriously 
as  making  an  epoch  in  her  life.  "  I  am  no 
longer  an  invalid,"  she  said.  "  I  do  not  in 
tend  to  presume  on  my  family  and  friends. 
I  am  going  to  put  all  my  sick  life  away. 
I  don't  want  anyone  to  ever  remind  me 
of  it." 

To  this  he  agreed  with  instant  enthusi 
asm.  "  Quite  right.  We  will  ride  every 
day  and  very  soon  I  want  you  and  your 
father  to  come  over  to  see  my  mine." 


WITCH'S    GOLD  155 

"I  should  like  to  do  that,"  she  replied 
sincerely.  "  When  shall  it  be?  " 

"  When  you  are  quite  recovered  from 
this  trip,"  he  answered. 

He  went  away  conscious  of  having  been 
precipitate  and  in  a  sense  unwarranted  and 
base.  He  had  descended  from  the  high 
plain  of  his  pitying,  impersonal  love  to  the 
level  of  the  suitor  and  in  this  lay  great  dan 
ger  of  misconception  on  her  part.  Might 
she  not  properly  accuse  him  of  deception,  of 
having  won  her  confidence  as  a  physician 
only  to  abuse  it  as  a  lover?  "  No  mat 
ter,"  he  said  shamelessly,  "  I  will  not  let 
her  go." 

As  it  had  taken  him  a  certain  length  of! 
time  to  convince  himself  that  the  mine  was 
safely  his  own,  so  now  it  seemed  (when  ab 
sent  from  his  love)  that  someone,  some  mis 
chance  was  about  to  rob  him  of  this  exquisite 


156  WITCH'S    GOLD 

woman  whose  slender  hand  had  power  to 
crown  his  life  with  laurel.  There  was  some 
thing  in  her  manner  which  troubled  him. 
She  was  not  less  tender,  but  she  seemed 
more  guarded — more  constrained. 

His  feeling  of  unworthiness  deepened  as 
he  studied  her  from  this  new  angle.  She 
was  so  free  from  any  stain  of  life's  battle. 
There  were  many  questionable  places  in  his 
own  life. 

Silently,  subtly  and  with  a  constantly 
brightening  glow,  her  radiant  purity  of 
soul  streamed  in  upon  his  brain,  revealing 
to  himself  his  most  hidden  motives.  He 
had  always  been  a  decent  and  honourable 
man,  as  the  honour  of  business  men  is 
measured,  but  an  uneasy  sense  of  wrong 
doing  began  to  disturb  his  complacency, 
and  just  as  he  was  dropping  off  to  sleep  at 
night  the  question  of  moral  right  in  connec- 


WITCH'S    GOLD  157 

tion  with  his  acquirement  of  The  Witch 
came  into  his  mind.  "  I  did  not  tell  her  all 
the  facts  in  the  case,"  he  admitted,  and  the 
thought  of  laying  bare  all  his  calculations 
and  inferences  at  that  point  made  him  shiver 
a  little.  Acts  that  seemed  legitimate  enough 
in  the  world  of  men  would  not  bear  transla 
tion  into  the  terms  of  her  world. 

This  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  with  him 
self  was  intensified  by  a  long  letter  from 
Eldred  threatening  a  new  suit,  and  when  he 
met  her  next  day  he  no  longer  assumed  to 
dominate  her — on  the  contrary,  he  seemed 
merely  the  eager  lover,  anxious,  consider 
ate — almost  too  considerate.  He  sought  a 
definite  promise  from  her  and  held  out  to 
her  on  his  palm  a  beautiful  ring. 

She  uttered  a  word  of  rapture:  '  What 
a  beautiful  ring!  to  whom  does  it  belong?  " 

"  To  you  if  you  will  wear  it,"  he  replied 


158  WITCH'S    GOLD 

with    such    meaning    that    her    eye-lashes 
dropped  to  hide  her  own  emotion. 

He  went  on  hurriedly:  "  If  you  put  that 
on  I  must  assume  you  are  willing  to  take 
me  with  it." 

She  grew  very  grave  as  she  looked  at  the 
little  shining  thing.  "  It  seems  very  won 
derful  to  me  that  you  should  want  me  to 
wear  it — that  I  am  here  willing  to  wear  it 
— for  I  am,"  she  added,  flashing  into  a 
smile,  "  for  I  love  you — you  know  it- 
Then  before  he  could  touch  her  hand  she 
shrank  back  and  a  faint  flush  crossed  her 
face,  leaving  her  very  pale  and  very  tense. 
"  But  I'm  afraid — perhaps  I  ought  not  to 
promise  anything  yet.  The  future  fright 


ens  me." 


"Why?    What  do  you  mean?" 
Again  the  blood  flushed  her  serious  face. 
"  I  mean,"  her  voice  died  to  a  whisper — 


WITCH'S    GOLD  159 

"  perhaps  I  ought  never  to  marry.  My — 
my  weakness  may  be  hereditary.  Have 
you  thought  of  that?  " 

A  look  of  relief  crossed  his  face.  "  Yes, 
I've  thought  of  that.  I've  given  it  the 
deepest  study  and  I'm  not  afraid."  He 
smiled  at  her.  "  You  know  my  creed. 
There's  nothing  evil  in  this  world,  but  think 
ing  makes  it  so.  You  need  not,  you  must 
not  give  any  more  thought  to  your  trouble. 
All  that  we  have  left  behind." 

"But  my  mother " 

He  took  both  her  hands  in  his.  "  Dear 
girl,  I  know  what  you  are  thinking,  but  it 
isn't  true.  Your  mother's  illness  and  death 
have  no  physical  connection  with  yours — 
only  your  morbid  thought  connected  you — 
or  can  connect  you  in  that  way.  Trust  me 
in  this.  Take  my  ring  and  wear  it  with  all 
it  may  mean.  I  am  determined  that  you 


160  WITCH'S    GOLD 

shall  be  well  and  happy;  I  want  you  to  trust 
me  in  this  as  you  have  in  other  things,  in 
anything." 

Under  the  power  of  his  words,  his  voice, 
his  glance,  she  lifted  her  lips  to  his  and  put 
her  arms  about  his  neck  in  confident,  fullest 
reliance  in  his  strength. 


CHAPTER   XI 

THE  month  that  followed  her  accept 
ance  of  the  ring  was  one  of  perfect 
happiness  for  her.  She  had  no  wish  to 
have  him  reassume  the  role  of  healer — she 
was  entirely  content  with  him  as  lover,  and 
this  being  made  plain  to  him  encouraged 
him  to  make  peace  with  himself  on  that 
score.  He  had  no  rebuke  for  the  press 
which  gave  large  space  to  gossip  concern 
ing  his  "  approaching  nuptials,"  and  though 
he  now  knew  that  his  visits  to  his  bride-elect 
were  carefully  numbered  by  the  busy-bodies 
he  calmly  pursued  his  way. 

He  bought  ground  for  a  house  and  or 
dered  the  plans  sent  to  Ellice  for  approval, 
and  when  she  drew  back  in  dismay  of  the 


162  WITCH'S    GOLD 

magnitude  of  the  architect's  estimates,  he 
asked:  "  Don't  you  like  my  plan?  " 

"It  is  very  beautiful!  But  can  we  af 
ford  it? " 

'  We  can  afford  anything  that  will  make 
you  happy,"  he  made  answer. 

"  But  this  is  a  palace! " 

"  Only  the  best  is  good  enough  for  you." 
After  a  moment  he  added :  '  You  see,  I 
know  you  can  never  live  East  again,  and  so 
I  want  you  to  have  all  the  comforts  of  a 
palace  in  Colorado.  So  long  as  The  Witch 
holds  out  to  burn  every  desire  of  your  heart 
shall  be  gratified." 

"  I  am  easily  gratified,  dearest.  I'd 
rather  have  you  than  a  palace." 

"  But  you  can  have  me  and  the  palace 
too,  if  you  will." 

She  sighed.  "  I  suppose  I'll  have  to  put 
up  with  both,"  and  then  she  laughed. 


WITCH'S    GOLD  163 

They  made  the  trip  to  the  mine  soon  after 
this,  and  her  delicate  shining  face,  her  small 
hand  upon  his  arm  deepened  his  sense  of  her 
preciousness  and  his  own  rough  ways.  He 
refused  to  take  her  into  the  dampness  of 
the  mine's  deep,  but  showed  her  all  the 
processes  of  sorting  and  crushing  and  wash 
ing  of  the  big  mills.  She  asked  to  see  Dan 
and  Biddy,  and  this  request  gave  him  a 
sharper  pang  of  uneasiness  than  he  had  yet 
acknowledged.  "  They'll  be  very  glad  to 
see  you,  but  you  mustn't  expect  too  much 
of  them — Biddy  is  especially  flamboyant — 
good  old  soul." 

Dan  was  instant  and  hearty  in  his  praise 
of  Clement.  "  Sure,  Miss,  he's  the  best 
man  I  ever  knew.  See  the  work  he  puts  me 
to.  An'  me  pay! —  Ye'll  find  Biddy  uphol 
stered  like  the  parlour  chairs  and  a  gold 
watch  in  every  wan  of  the  vest  pockets — 


164  WITCH'S    GOLD 

and  it's  all  the  boss's  work.  He  took  the 
mine  when  it  was  green  with  deceit  and  he 
made  it  sprout  pure  gold." 

They  found  Biddy  quite  as  gorgeous  as 
Dan  had  reported  her  to  be.  She  was  about 
to  make  a  call  on  the  saloon-keeper's  wife 
(in  a  green  velvet  gown  and  a  lace  hat) ,  but 
she  sat  down  in  a  smother  of  satisfaction 
and  friendliness  and  entertained  her  visitors 
with  stories  of  her  triumphs  over  her  neigh 
bours.  "  Sure  I  have  them  all  faded — the 
very  ones  that  once  wrinkled  their  noses  at 
me — and  it's  all  on  account  of  Mr.  Clement 
— sure  it  is." 

Clement  promptly  forbade  any  more 
talk  of  that  kind,  but  Ellice  interceded  and 
gently  encouraged  her.  She  perceived  the 
good  heart  of  the  woman,  and  was  able  to 
understand  the  feeling  she  had  for  her  hero, 
who  looked  so  strong,  so  handsome,  and  so 


WITCH'S    GOLD  165 

distinguished  as  he  sat  amid  the  red  and  yel 
low  of  the  parlour  furniture. 

Mr.  Ross  had  come  to  have  a  profound 
respect  for  his  future  son-in-law,  and  this 
visit  to  the  mine  deepened  his  sense  of  Clem 
ent's  power.  "  I  can't  say  that  he  don't 
make  as  much  of  a  fool  of  himself  as  any 
prospective  bridegroom,  but  he  is  a  good 
business  man  at  the  same  time.  He  don't 
lose  his  head,  by  any  means.  It  is  perfectly 
certain  that  he  understands  his  business. 
He  is  only  reckless  when  buying  things  for 
Ellice.  I  suspect  he'll  take  care  of  her  and 
the  mine,  too." 

It  was  in  this  period  of  waiting  of  service 
that  Eldred  entered  final  suit  against  Clem 
ent  to  recover  his  interest  in  the  mine,  and 
the  case  was  entered  for  the  spring  term  of 
court.  At  any  other  time  Clement  would 
have  put  the  summons  aside  as  of  no  conse- 


166  WITCH'S    GOLD 

quence,  but  now  he  was  both  angered  and 
alarmed.  To  go  into  court  even  with  the 
right  on  his  side  would  expose  him  to  slan 
der  and  to  impudent  questions.  It  would 
be  quite  like  his  opponents  to  drag  Ellice's 
name  into  the  argument  and  the  very 
thought  of  that  was  intolerable. 

On  the  other  hand  to  compromise  with 
the  persistent  sneak  was  to  lower  himself — 
to  admit  that  the  claim  was  just  and  to  in 
vite  a  continuation  of  the  attack,  for  so 
long  as  a  dollar  could  be  won  Eldred  was 
certain  to  demand  and  demand  and  still  de 
mand.  "It  is  diabolical  malice  to  bring 
suit  at  this  time,"  he  said  to  Mr.  Ross,  to 
whom  he  went  for  advice. 

"  If  you  have  stated  the  facts  cor 
rectly,  he  has  no  case,"  declared  the  mer 
chant. 

"  Certainly  he  has  no  case.     I  bought  his 


WITCH'S    GOLD  167 

stock  and  paid  for  it  out  of  money  drawn 
from  my  share  of  the  old  homestead.  I 
made  every  sacrifice  to  repay  him,  and  I 
intend  to  fight  him — but  I  do  not  like  to 
have  Ellice  share  in  any  way  the  anxiety 
of  the  fight.  Eldred  is  but  a  tool  in  the 
hands  of  a  powerful  clique  of  men  in  Den 
ver.  Bodovitz  has  the  claim  and  it  is  his 
intentions  to  make  a  big  '  killing.' ' 

"  Retain  a  good  lawyer  and  wear  them 
out  with  postponements.  Why  not  retain 
Bodovits  or  whatever  his  name  is — outbid 
the  other  man?  " 

"  I'd  thought  of  that,"  said  Clement  with 
an  answering  smile,  "  but  I  despise  the  man 
so  that  I  can't  do  it." 

"What  can  I  do  for  you?  I  take  it 
you're  in  no  need  of  money." 

"  Oh,  no,  there's  nothing  you  can  do  ex 
cept  to  help  me  keep  the  whole  complication 


168  WITCH'S    GOLD 

from  Ellice — and  to  advise  me  now  and 
then." 

"  You  need  not  be  alarmed  about  Ellice; 
once  she  understands  the  situation,  it  will 
not  trouble  her.  A  woman  always  sides 
with  the  man,  especially  when  he's  right." 

"I'm  glad  you  feel  as  I  do  about  the  mat 
ter.  I'm  sorry  for  Eldred  and  I  would  do 
something  for  him,  only  he  would  take  that 
as  a  sign  of  weakness,  and  he  and  his  people 
would  push  the  harder.  The  only  thing  I 
can  do  is  to  keep  absolutely  clear  of  him — 
am  I  not  sound? " 

"  Perfectly.  The  other  people  have 
made  no  fight,  I  understand? " 

"  Dan  and  Biddy?  No.  They  are  hap 
py  and  well.  Dan  is  working  for  me  and 
is  as  rich  as  he  can  stand.  He  says  he  sold 
to  me  gladly  and  has  no  kick  coming.  He 
refuses  to  enter  into  any  combination 


WITCH'S    GOLD  169 

against  me;  that  has  been  a  great  comfort 
to  me." 

And  yet  for  all  this  reassurance  Clement 
was  not  at  peace  with  himself.  He  had 
fought  round  the  real  question  at  issue, 
seeking  by  giving  aid  to  the  library  and  to 
the  various  educational  institutions  of  the 
town,  to  restore  his  entire  self-respect.  The 
question  that  would  not  down  was  this: 
"Am  I  not  bound  in  honour  to  give  to 
Dan  and  Biddy  an  equal  share  in  The 
Witch?" 

The  answer  complete  and  satisfying  hith 
erto  had  been  this:  "No,  they  threw  up 
their  interests  at  a  time  when  the  mine  was 
a  failure.  J  made  it  a  success — I  alone. 
Besides  they  have  more  money  than  they 
know  how  to  use  now." 

But  this  answer  no  longer  sufficed  him. 
It  was  true  that  they  had  cheerfully  sold  to 


170  WITCH'S    GOLD 

him,  but  it  was  in  the  belief  that  the  ore  was 
too  refractory  to  ever  be  solved.  They 
knew  so  little  of  Clement's  resources.  "  Yes, 
but  they  were  entitled  to  your  resources. 
They  had  given  of  their  slender  material 
stores  and  time  when  you  were  starving. 
What  moral  right  had  you  to  withhold  your 
mental  resources? " 

"  I  did  not  know  at  the  time  positively 
that  I  could  solve  the  mystery  of  the  ore." 

'  True,  but  your  inner  conviction  was 
clear  as  a  bell.  You  knew  you  could  solve 
it  in  time,  and  this  you  withheld  from  your 
great-hearted  partners." 

Ellice  perceived  the  change  in  him,  for 
he  had  become  moody  and  changeable  even 
in  her  presence.  This  troubled  her,  and  one 
day  she  asked: 

"What  is  the  matter,  Richard?  You 
don't  seem  yourself  to-day." 


WITCH'S    GOLD  171 

He  brightened  at  once.  "  Business  is 
bothering  me  a  little." 

"  I  think  you  must  be  working  too  hard." 

"Oh,  no!  work  is  a  pleasure — now,"  he 
answered. 

She  persisted:  "I'm  afraid  you  have 
been  too  extravagant  about  me.  That 
house  is  so  big  and  costly  it  frightens 


me." 


"  Now  don't  you  get  any  foolish  notions 
about  economy  into  your  head,"  he  an 
swered,  genuinely  amused,  "  the  mine  is  get 
ting  bigger  and  richer  every  day.  I'm  an 
noyed  by  some  little  things,  that's  all — 
nothing  important — if  they  were  I  would 
tell  you." 

"  You  must  always  do  that,"  she  very 
gravely  admonished  him.  "  I  want  to  feel 
that  I  am  sharing  all  your  perplexities  as 
well  as  your  good  fortune." 


172  WITCH'S    GOLD 

Here  was  the  moment  to  tell  her  what 
really  troubled  him,  but  he  did  not.  He 
put  it  all  away  and  they  went  for  a  ride  in 
stead. 

The  wedding  day  had  been  set  for  July, 
just  a  year  from  their  first  meeting,  and 
this  was  June  and  Ellice  at  least  began  to 
regret  the  swift  passing  of  these,  her  most 
beautiful  days.  Life  had  been  a  rapture 
deep  and  sweet  since  her  lover  came  to 
her  and  called  her  back  to  mental  as  well 
as  physical  health,  and  she  would  have  been 
well  content  to  have  the  days  of  courtship 
linger  on  indefinitely.  But  to  wait  was  not 
the  man's  part,  and  once  when  she  playfully 
hinted  at  a  postponement  he  grew  a  little 
savage  and  quite  alarmed.  "  I  can't  afford 
to  postpone,"  he  exclaimed,  "I'm  too  old 
to  think  of  it." 

He  was   disposed  to  be  very  generous 


WITCH'S    GOLD  173 

during  these  days,  and  had  Eldred  shown 
the  slightest  tact  or  consideration  it  would 
have  redounded  to  his  advantage,  but  he  did 
not;  on  the  contrary,  he  set  to  work  to  more 
closely  pursue  and  to  more  remorselessly 
slander  Clement.  By  the  promise  of  large 
fees  he  induced  his  attorneys  to  make  the  at 
tack  personal.  It  was  not  difficult  to  get 
certain  journals  to  pass  from  sly  to  open 
censure — they  were,  however,  and  happily, 
the  kind  of  papers  which  Ellice  did  not  see, 
and  though  she  read  in  the  better  news 
papers  reference  now  and  then  to  this  unfa 
vourable  comment,  she  gave  it  little  thought, 
well  knowing  how  easy  it  was  for  a  public 
man  to  be  misunderstood. 

Dan  and  Biddy  were  conspiring  with  the 
men  in  the  mines  to  buy  a  "  whale  of  a 
wedding  present  for  the  boss,"  at  the  same 
time  that  Clement  was  turning  over  in  his 


174  WITCH'S    GOLD 

mind  a  plan  to  do  something  more  for  them 
—good  faithful  souls!  Dan  said  to  Biddy: 
"  It  must  be  a  big  dish  sure,  so  that  we  can 
have  our  names  all  dug  into  it.  Jack  Hen- 
nesy  says  a  loving  cup — but  I  stand  out  for 
a  punch  bowl.  I  don't  know  what  a  punch 
bowl  is,  but  'tis  a  big  dish  wid  a  big  broad 
side  f er  writin'  on — and  that's  the  thing  we 
nade." 

"  A  punch  bowl,"  said  Biddy,  "  is  a  bowl 
to  drink  punch  out  of." 

"Is  it  so?"  replied  Dan  sarcastically. 
"  I  thought  it  was  for  punchin'  lobsters  wid. 
Anyhow  we'll  soon  know  for  I'm  a  com 
mittee  to  go  to  Denver  and  bring  it  back 
wid  me  in  toime  f  er  the  wake — I  mean  the 
ceremony." 

"  Be  sure  ye  bring  the  punch  wid  the 
bowl." 

"  I  will  and  you  be  sure  to  have  a  civil 


WITCH'S    GOLD  175 

tongue  when  ye  meet  Hennesy  and  the  rest 
of  the  boys,"  he  replied.  "  'Twill  be  the 
biggest  bowl  in  town  be-dad!  " 

On  the  very  day  that  Dan  was  in  Denver 
to  buy  this  bowl  he  met  Eldred  on  the  street, 
and  in  the  innocence  of  his  big  Irish  heart 
he  asked  the  little  man  to  subscribe. 

Eldred  scowled.  "You're  a  fool,  Dan 
McCarty.  I'd  rather  subscribe  to  a  fund 
to  prosecute  him  for  stealing  our  share  of 
the  mine." 

Dan's  face  lost  its  smile.  "  There  is  a 
difference  bechune  us — I  may  be  a  fool,  but 
I'm  not  a  villain  and  that's  what  you  are, 
and  if  you  ask  me  to  subscribe  to  YOUR  fund 
I'll  break  your  face."  And  he  passed  on, 
his  sunny  face  clouded  with  a  frown. 

Eldred  was  not  a  coward — he  was  rather 
a  rash,  intruding  fool,  for  he  took  train 
that  very  day  for  The  Springs  to  see  Clem- 


176  WITCH'S    GOLD 

ent  personally.  Even  then  had  he  taken  a 
reasonable  tone  he  would  have  won  some 
substantial  reward,  but  he  did  not;  he  en 
tered  the  hotel  with  his  small,  dark  rat-like 
face  set  in  a  portentous  frown,  and  his  card 
to  Clement  stated  that  he  was  present  "  to 
talk  business." 

Clement  sent  for  him  to  come  up,  and  the 
fine  rooms  which  he  occupied  and  the  air  of 
cultivated  leisure  which  the  young  miner 
now  possessed  seemed  to  make  the  little 
man  more  intolerantly  bitter  than  ever.  He 
began  at  once:  "I've  come  to  ask  you 
finally  what  you  intend  to  do  about  my 
suit?" 

Clement  sitting  at  a  big  mahogany  desk 
in  a  big,  beautiful  room,  flushed  with  anger, 
but  controlling  himself  replied  quietly: 
"  I  don't  know — let  it  come  to  trial  prob 
ably." 


WITCH'S    GOLD  177 

"  You  daren't  let  it  come  to  trial.  You 
have  got  it  set  over  twice  and  you'll  do  it 
again — but  if  you  do  I'll  appeal  through 
the  newspapers." 

"Can  you  say  anything  that  you  haven't 
said? "  inquired  Clement,  his  anger  rising 
to  dangerous  height.  "I'm  glad  you've 
come  in,  for  I  want  to  say  to  you  that  if  you 
don't  drop  your  public  abuse  of  me  I  will 
give  you  a  hiding  in  the  street — "  Eldred 
started  to  speak,  but  Clement  sprang  up 
silencing  him.  "Not  a  word.  I  will  not 
argue  this  thing  with  you.  If  you  were  a 
full  grown  man  we  would  settle  it  out  of 
court,  but  as  it  is  you'd  better  walk  out  of  my 
room  before  I  pitch  you  out.' 

Eldred  retreated,  but  not  in  confusion. 
"  You're  a  big  duffer.  If  you  touch  me  I'll 
shoot  you." 

Thereupon  Clement  lost  his  control  and 


178  WITCH'S    GOLD 

with  a  cuff  sent  the  fellow  reeling — then 
leading  him  by  the  ear  cast  him  outside  the 
door  and  closed  it  with  a  bang. 


CHAPTER   XII 

THE  final  stir,  the  deciding  touch  to 
Clement's  conscience  came  in  a  curi 
ous  way  a  few  days  before  the  day  set 
for  his  wedding  and  the  little  journey  they 
expected  to  make.  He  was  in  camp  on  a 
final  inspection  of  his  mine,  and  was  walk 
ing  the  streets  at  night,  silent,  self-ab 
sorbed  and  gloomy.  He  had  grown  mor 
bidly  self -critical  in  his  thought.  "  I'm 
not  fit  to  marry  one  so  angelic,  so  sweet, 
so  forgiving,"  he  said,  all  his  self -exult 
ant  power  gone.  Like  many  another  man 
he  began  to  realise  the  significance  of  mar 
riage  to  woman — to  comprehend  its  power 
to  wreck  or  mar,  and  he  spent  far  too  many 
hours  in  going  over  his  faults  of  omission 


180  WITCH'S    GOLD 

as  well  as  those  he  had  actually  committed. 
He  was  abroad  now  seeking  the  distraction 
which  crowds  can  sometimes  bring  to  one 
in  troubled  musing.  The  thought  of  El- 
dred  had  come  to  be  more  and  more  dis 
turbing — and  he  wished  a  hundred  times 
that  he  had  not  laid  violent  hands  on  the 
man.  He  was  so  small  and  mean  as  an 
antagonist. 

The  street  swarmed  with  sight-seers  and 
miners.  A  low,  continuous  hum  of  talk  could 
be  heard  at  the  base  of  all  other  noises,  and 
Clement  standing  aside  from  it  all,  was 
thinking  how  far  above  all  this  life  his  beau 
tiful  bride  was,  when  the  voice  of  a  street 
orator  attracted  his  attention. 

There  had  been  in  the  camp  for  some 
weeks  a  certain  sensational  evangelist — a 
man  of  some  power,  but  of  most  unhappy 
disposition,  one  who  had  been  in  serious 


WITCH'S    GOLD  181 

trouble  with  the  city  authorities.  He  had 
been  called  a  "  hypocrite  and  fake  "  in  the 
public  press,  had  been  prosecuted  for  dis 
turbance  of  the  peace  and  threatened  by 
anonymous  enemies.  But  he  seemed  to 
thrive  on  such  treatment  and  each  night 
flung  his  challenges  to  the  four  winds, 
eager  for  battle. 

Clement  had  paid  very  little  attention  to 
him  and  his  troubles,  but  as  he  looked  down 
the  street  at  the  crowd  massing  at  the  cor 
ner,  it  occurred  to  him  to  wonder  if  the 
speaker  were  "  the  fighting  evangelist." 

He  was  about  to  move  that  way  when  a 
man  and  a  woman  paused  near  him  in  the 
dark  middle  of  the  street  and  seemed  to  be 
consulting  together. 

"  This  will  do  as  well  as  anywhere," 
the  fellow  said,  and  putting  down  a  small 
box  mounted  it  as  to  a  pulpit.  He  wore 


182  WITCH'S    GOLD 

a  broad  cowboy  hat,  and  a  long  coat 
which  hung  unbuttoned  down  his  powerful 
figure.  The  woman,  who  stood  beside  him, 
was  tall  and  slender,  and  neatly  dressed  in 
grey — her  face  could  not  be  seen,  but  she 
carried  her  head  proudly.  Clement  under 
stood  that  these  were  the  persecuted  ones 
and  his  interest  was  at  once  aroused.  He 
drew  near  and  waited  the  coming  of  the 
crowd. 

The  man  began  to  sing  in  a  powerful  but 
not  very  musical  voice,  a  hymn  full  of  pic 
turesque  cowboy  allusions.  His  words,  his 
manner  had  a  quality  not  usual  in  street  ex- 
horters,  and  a  throng  of  miners  quickly 
gathered  about  him.  The  verses  of  his 
song  were  many  and  not  without  a  rude 
poetry,  and  his  audience  listened  with  an  in 
terest  which  covered  the  delivery  of  his 
prayer  which  was  long,  and  eloquent  too,  in 


WITCH'S    GOLD  183 

its  rough  diction.  He  began  his  address  at 
last  by  issuing  a  plain  defiance  to  his 
enemies.  This  would  mean  little  in  an 
eastern  village,  perhaps,  but  in  a  mining 
camp,  even  a  degenerate  mining  camp,  it 
meant  a  great  deal.  Life  or  death  seemed 
to  meet  on  equal  ground  as  he  stood  there 
uttering  in  vivid  and  powerful  phrase  his 
challenge  to  the  death. 

"  Now,  gentlemen,  I  want  to  say  some 
thing  as  a  preface  in  order  to  line  every 
body  up.  Some  citizen  of  this  town  has 
branded  me  by  anonymous  letters  in  the 
public  press — as  a  fakir.  It  wouldn't  be 
healthy  for  any  man  to  do  it  openly.  So 
these  sneaks  hide  behind  a  fence.  I  want 
them  to  know  my  plain  opinion  of  them. 
They  are  liars.  I  hope  'Doc'  is  here  to 
night.  I  want  him  to  step  right  up  to  me 
if  he  is.  He's  my  meat.  I  don't  care 


184  WITCH'S    GOLD 

about  myself.  It  is  only  a  little  difference 
of  opinion  between  me  and  a  coward,  but 
when  he  reflects  upon  the  good  name  of  my 
wife  I  get  red-eyed.  Now  let  me  remark 
right  here  that  any  man  who  says  my  wife 
is  not  a  lady  and  a  woman  of  the  highest 
character,  insults  the  mother  of  my  children, 
and  must  answer  to  me  for  every  word  he 
utters,  and  no  assumed  name  is  going  to 
protect  him  from  my  vengeance." 

A  thrill  of  deeper  interest  ran  through  the 
crowd.  The  man's  voice  had  a  noble  swell 
in  it — a  sound  that  meant  battle,  battle  at 
the  mouth  of  the  pistol.  As  he  towered 
there  in  the  dim  light  surrounded  by  armed 
men  he  presented  a  broad  mark  for  the  as 
sassin's  bullet.  But  there  was  no  fear  in  his 
attitude.  He  had  come  up  through  a  wild 
life,  and  knew  his  audience  as  well  as  he 
knew  his  accuser  and  himself. 


WITCH'S    GOLD  185 

His  voice  took  a  sudden  change — it  grew 
tender  and  sincerely  reverent.  "  My  friends, 
I  am  here  to  preach  the  gospel  of  Christ  and 
Him  crucified.  I  may  not  do  it  in  the  best 
way  always,  but  I  do  it  as  well  as  I  know 
how."  His  voice  grew  savage  again,  as  he 
added:  "  But  I  shall  defend  the  honour  of 
my  wife  with  my  life.  I  will  kill  the  man 
who  dares  to  malign  her  name." 

His  voice  and  pose  were  magnificent — 
lion-like — and  a  cheer  rose  from  those  who 
stood  nearest  him.  "  Good  boy!"  shouted 
some  loose-tongued  fellow. 

The  preacher's  manner  again  change.d 
with  dramatic  suddenness.  He  now  took 
the  whole  street  into  his  boyish  confidence. 

"  I  love  my  wife,  gentlemen.  She  has 
borne  three  children  to  me.  She  is  a  good 
woman  and  a  mighty  sight  smarter  and 
better  preacher  than  I  am,  but  she  can't  de- 


186  WITCH'S    GOLD 

fend  herself  against  sneaks  and  reptilious 
liars.  I  can.  That's  part  of  my  business. 
I  tell  you,  boys,"  he  continued  in  a  voice 
whose  tone  was  very  sincere  and  winning, 
"  they  ain't  no  man  good  enough  to  marry 
a  good  woman;  now  that's  the  God's  truth; 
it's  just  her  good,  pure,  kind  heart  gives  a 
man  any  show  at  all.  We're  a  lot  of  dirty, 
noisy  coyotes,  if  anybody  rides  up  and  asks 
you — and  I  wonder  the  women  put  up  with 
us  at  all.  I  feel  mighty  grateful  myself. 
The  more  I  see  of  men  the  better  I  like 
women.  They  carry  their  own  troubles  and 
ours  too.  I  tell  you  the  woman  that  bears 
a  child  ought  to  be  free  from  slander." 

A  sudden  lump  rose  in  Clement's  throat. 
The  preacher's  deep  humility  and  loyalty 
and  manliness  had  gone  straight  to  his  own 
heart  and  touched  him  in  a  very  sensitive 
place.  "  How  true  it  all  is !  Men  go  to 


WITCH'S    GOLD  187 

women  scarred  with  their  battles,  malodo 
rous  with  their  toil  and  their  amusements. 
They  demand  purity  for  their  baseness,  con 
stancy  for  their  fickleness  and  charity  for 
their  selfishness."  He  turned  away  and 
sought  the  deeper  shadow  with  his  head 
bowed  in  such  despair  as  Lincoln  is  reported 
to  have  felt  in  the  face  of  his  approaching 
marriage.  The  exhorter  had  brought  con 
viction  of  soul  to  one  who  was  already 
troubled — but  not  about  his  future  life. 

"  Oh,  God!  How  pure  and  dainty  and 
unspotted  she  is,  and  I — I  am  unclean." 

He  saw  now  as  clearly  as  if  a  searching 
light  had  been  turned  in  upon  his  most  secret 
thought,  that  his  ownership  of  The  Witch 
was  in  question.  He  had  not  been  entirely 
candid  with  his  love — he  had  concealed 
something. 

"  I  had  no  right  to  claim  her  till  I  had 


188  WITCH'S    GOLD 

laid  bare  everything  that  was  in  my  mind 
about  that  transaction,"  he  accusingly 
groaned.  "  I  did  not  know>  but  I  was  mor 
ally  certain  that  wealth  was  in  it.  The  fact 
that  Eldred  is  a  scoundrel  and  that  Dan 
and  Biddy  would  be  overloaded  and  per 
haps  injured  by  wealth  has  nothing  to  do 
with  the  inherent  justice  of  the  case.  I 
failed  to  share  my  conviction  with  them — 
in  a  way  I  took  advantage  of  their  igno 
rance  and  their  superstition.  Legally  the 
mine  belongs  to  me — morally  I  am  now  in 
doubt." 

All  the  way  back  to  the  Springs  he 
wrestled  with  himself  about  it.  He  ended 
by  reasserting  the  justice  of  his  position, 
and  in  the  resolve  to  tell  Ellice  at  once  the 
whole  story  with  all  his  doubts  and  assump 
tions  and  let  her  judge.  He  had  in  his 
pocket  the  deed  to  the  new  house,  which  was 


WITCH'S    GOLD  189 

to  be  his  wedding  present,  but  this  some 
how  gave  him  little  comfort — on  the  con 
trary  he  could  not  think  of  asking  her  to 
accept  it  before  passing  upon  his  action  in 
buying  in  the  mine.  Once  in  the  Springs  he 
went  directly  to  her. 

He  found  her  surrounded  with  women 
and  gowns  and  flowers  in  what  seemed  to 
him  a  chaos  of  preparation.  The  women 
fled  when  he  approached,  but  the  gowns  and 
flowers  remained,  and  he  began  by  jocular 
comment  upon  these  evidences  of  "  woman's 
vanity—  '  but  at  last  in  sheer  lack  of  any 
further  cause  or  excuse  for  delay  he  came 
to  the  point. 

"  Ellice,  here  is  something  that  I  want  to 
turn  over  to  you  now.  It  won't  be  a  sur 
prise,  but  it  is  my  wedding  gift,"  and  he 
placed  in  her  hand  the  deed  of  the  house. 

She  looked  at  it. 


100  WITCH'S    GOLD 

"Oh,  what  a  formidable  document! 
What  is  it?  " 

"  It  is  the  deed  to  the  new  house,  made 
out  to  you." 

Her  eyes  misted  with  quick  emotion. 
"  How  good  you  are  to  me,  Richard!  Why 
do  you  do  this?  You  are  too  generous." 

"  It's  only  precaution,"  he  replied,  as 
lightly  as  he  could.  "  This  deed  insures  us 
a  home;  that  is  if  you  don't  lose  it  in  some 
wild  speculation." 

She  put  her  arms  about  his  neck,  an  in 
frequent  caress  with  her.  "  You  don't 
need  to  make  such  costly  presents  to  me, 
Dick,  but  I  am  glad.  I  never  expected  to 
have  so  much,  you — and  the  house."  Then 
she  added  musingly: 

"  Isn't  it  nice  to  know  that  our  good 
fortune  does  not  come  from  somebody  else's 
misery?  Ore  seems  different  from  other 


WITCH'S  GOLD  191 

wealth.  It  comes  out  of  the  earth  like  a 
spring — like  the  spring  that  made  me  well. 
That  is  what  makes  me  happiest.  There  is 
no  cheated  one  to  be  a  spectre  on  our  feast 
— is  there,  dear  ?  " 

As  he  looked  down  into  her  face  it  seemed 
lit  from  within  by  some  heavenly  light,  and 
her  voice  filled  him  with  humbleness  and 
worship — but  her  sweet  words  stung  him. 
He  found  it  very  difficult  to  begin  upon  the 
words  of  his  confession.  He  could  not  bear 
to  think  of  clouding  her  happy  face  and  so 
his  resolution  failed  him  and  he  sat  listening 
to  her  joyous  account  of  the  day. 

She  observed  his  silence  at  last  and  wished 
to  know  what  troubled  him.  Even  then  he 
evaded  the  issue. 

"  Oh,  nothing.  I'm  a  little  worried  about 
a — new  piece  of  machinery."  This  gave 
him  a  thought.  "  And  by  the  way,  I  must 


192  WITCH'S    GOLD 

be  away  from  you  this  evening  on  business. 
I  can't  take  dinner  with  you  after  all.  I 
hope  you  won't  miss  me  in  the  midst  of  your 
dressmakers." 

She  was  not  one  of  those  who  worry  with 
expostulations  or  complainings;  having  a 
mind  of  her  own,  she  granted  the  same  lib 
erty  of  action  to  others. 

"  I  shall  miss  you  of  course,"  she  said, 
"  but  I  shall  also  be  busy,"  and  she  flashed 
a  sudden  roguish  look  at  him.  "  Only — 
don't  forget  to  breakfast  with  me! " 

He  had  the  grace  to  return  her  smile 
with  one  almost  gay  as  he  said: 

"  Oh,  I'll  not  forget.  I've  charged  my 
mind  with  to-morrow's  duty." 

"  I  had  hoped  it  was  a  pleasure,"  she  re 
torted. 

His  going  was  like  a  flight.  His  inner 
cry  was  this : 


WITCH'S    GOLD  193 

"  Till  I  make  restitution  I  cannot  meet 
her  again.  I  must  be  absolutely  worthy  of 
her.  If  I  am  dishonest — I  am  unfit  to 
touch  her  hand." 

"  Saddle  Susanna,"  he  phoned  sharply  to 
his  Mexican  hostler.  "  Put  on  the  heavy 
saddle — I'm  going  over  the  hill." 

He  returned  to  his  room  and  there  sat 
with  his  face  buried  in  his  hands  shutting 
out  the  light  of  the  splendid  sunset,  seeing 
only  his  bride  as  she  sat  among  her  soft 
silks  and  dainty  flowers.  Her  lovely  eyes 
and  the  exquisite  texture  of  her  skin  grew 
each  day  more  wonderful  to  him.  The 
touch  of  his  lips  to  hers  seemed  now  an  act 
of  pollution,  almost  of  envenoming,  as  he 
brooded  on  his  unworthiness.  When  she 
was  sick  and  hopeless  of  life  or  love,  he  had 
been  bold  to  offer  himself —  Now  that  she 
was  well  and  an  object  of  adoration,  of 


194  WITCH'S    GOLD 

seeking  on  the  part  of  other  and  better  men 
than  himself,  he  wondered  at  the  arrogance 
of  his  first  assumptions.  "  Surely  I  have 
rushed  in  where  angels  might  fear  to  tread," 
he  groaned  and  on  the  impulse  of  the  mo 
ment  wrote  a  note  to  her  in  which  he  said: 

"  I  am  not  fit  to  see  you,  to  touch  you.  The 
reason  why  I  am  not  to  be  with  you  at  dinner  is 
this  :  I  am  going  away  across  the  Divide  to  make 
restitution  for  a  dishonest  action.  Until  I  do  this 
I  cannot  face  you  again.  When  I  see  you  to 
morrow  I  will  be  a  better  man  and  will  be  honest 
with  you,  and  if  you  think  me  worthy  of  forgive 
ness — but  I  will  see  you  and  ask  this  question 
to-morrow. 

"  RICHARD." 

He  added  as  a  postscript: 

"  I  am  well.  I  am  not  crazy,  but  I  am  not  at 
peace  with  myself.  I  can't  kiss  you  again  till  I 
am." 

Upon  reconsidering  this  missive  he  tore 
it  up,  and  hurrying  down  to  the  hotel  en 
trance  where  his  horse  stood  he  leaped  into 


WITCH'S    GOLD  195 

the  saddle  with  a  word  to  the  hostler:  "  I 
will  not  be  home  till  morning,  Aglar.  You 
need  not  wait  for  me." 

The  spirited  little  broncho,  fresh  and  met 
tlesome,  went  off  in  a  series  of  sheeplike 
bounds  which  her  rider  rather  welcomed 
and  which  made  the  Mexican  smile  and  say: 
"  He  can  ride — the  senor!  " 

Clement  drew  rein  at  the  telegraph  office, 
and  there  sent  three  telegrams.  They  were 
all  alike: 

"  Meet  me  at  the  office  of  The  Witch  at 
midnight.  Important."  One  was  addressed 
to  Dan,  one  to  his  head  clerk  and  one  to 
Eldred. 

As  he  turned  Susanna's  head  up  the  trail, 
the  mountains  stood  deep-purple  silhouettes 
against  the  cloudlessness  of  the  sky.  The 
wind  blew  from  the  heights  cool  and  fra 
grant,  and  the  little  horse  set  her  wide  nos- 


196  WITCH'S    GOLD 

trils  to  it  as  if  she  anticipated  and  welcomed 
the  hard  ride.  The  way  lay  over  a  moun 
tain  pass  eleven  thousand  feet  above  the  sea, 
and  her  rider  was  a  heavy  man,  but  Susanna 
was  of  broncho  strain  with  a  blooded  sire, 
which  makes  the  hardiest  and  swiftest 
mountain  horse  in  the  world.  What  were 
thirty  miles  to  her?  Her  limbs  had  been 
formed  by  races  over  the  hills  and  her  lungs 
were  expanded  to  this  thin  air.  She  moved 
exultantly. 

Clement's  mind  cleared  as  he  began  the 
ascent — cleared  but  did  not  rest.  Over  and 
over  the  problem  came,  each  time  clearer 
and  more  difficult.  He  must  that  night 
give  away  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  thou 
sand  dollars — terrible  ordeal!  Ninety  thou 
sand  to  go  to  an  old  Irishman  and  his  wife 
— both  ignorant,  careless. 

What  would  they  do  with  it?     It  might 


WITCH'S    GOLD  197 

drive  them  crazy.  As  they  now  lived  they 
were  comfortable.  Could  they  take  care  of 
more?  Would  not  the  big  fortune  he  was 
about  to  give  them  be  the  ruin  of  them? 

Would  it  not  be  better  to  give  them  a 
few  thousands — such  sum  as  they  could 
comprehend  and  take  care  of?  "Dan  will 
quit  work  and  go  to  pieces  as  so  many  others 
of  his  type  have  done  under  the  pressure  of 
too  much  wealth.  Work  is  the  normal  life 
to  him  and  two  hundred  dollars  each  month 
all  he  can  really  comprehend  and  use." 

But  this  was  easy  compared  to  the  sur 
render  to  follow.  Then  there  was  another 
big  sum,  forty-five  thousand  dollars  to  be 
given  to  a  cheap  little  rascal — that  was 
hardest  of  all.  "  Yes,  but  "  (his  conscience 
argued)  "  he  saved  the  day.  He  put  in  six 
hundred  dollars  when  every  dollar  was  a 
ducat.  Without  him  the  mine  would  have 


198  WITCH'S    GOLD 

gone  to  other  hands — or  be  lying  undevel 
oped." 

'  True,  but  the  reward  is  too  great. 
Forty-five  thousand  dollars  for  six  hundred 
was  too  much.  How  will  he  spend  it?  He 
is  a  man  without  an  ideal — a  common  vul 
gar  little  shop-keeper.  To  give  him  such  a 
sum  was  merely  to  enlarge  the  scope  of  his 
mean  influence." 

Oh,  yes,  this  was  familiar  ground!  He 
had  gone  over  it  in  a  more  or  less  definite 
way  a  hundred  times,  each  time  reaching  an 
apparently  final  judgment.  It  had  been 
quite  settled  when  this  slender  little  woman 
first  lifted  her  face  to  his,  and  now  nothing 
was  settled — yes,  it  was.  It  was  settled  that 
he  was  to  make  restitution. 

It  became  very  still  and  very  cold  as  he 
rode.  There  was  no  stream  to  sing  the 
gorge,  and  no  wind  in  the  pines  to  answer 


WITCH'S    GOLD  199 

should  the  stream  call.  Nothing  seemed  to 
be  stirring  save  the  pensive  man  and  his 
faithful  pony. 

Reaching  the  upper  levels  he  spurred  on  at 
a  gallop,  finding  some  relief  in  the  mono 
tonous  creak  of  the  heather,  in  the  rush  of 
air  past  his  ears.  The  moon  was  late,  but 
when  it  came  it  seemed  to  help  him,  lighten 
ing  his  mood  as  it  illuminated  the  trail.  The 
big,  towering  peaks  lifted  weirdly  into  the 
dark  sky,  their  upper  edges  smooth  and 
graceful  and  definite  as  the  rims  of  bubbles. 
Solid  rock  seemed  melted  and  transfused 
with  light  and  air.  It  was  all  miraculously 
beautiful,  and  the  sore-hearted  man  lifted 
his  eyes  to  the  heights  deriving  comfort 
from  every  moonlit  rock  and  every  pine- 
clad  ridge. 

By  the  time  he  caught  the  gleam  of  lights 
in  the  camp  his  mind  was  settled,  his  eyes 


200  WITCH'S    GOLD 

clear,  his  brow  calm.  It  was  not  yet  mid 
night  as  he  entered  the  office,  but  he  found 
them  all  waiting  for  him. 

Dan  and  Biddy  greeted  him  with  cautious 
constraint,  for  Eldred  had  been  filling  their 
simple  souls  with  suspicion.  "  He  wants 
to  compromise.  He's  afraid  of  our  suit 
against  him,"  said  the  little  man. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  Dan  had  refused  to 
put  a  dollar  into  the  suit  and  yet  he  was 
forced  to  confess  that  Clement  was  becom 
ing  an  "  a-ristocrat."  And  Biddy  said  "  'Tis 
thrue,  he  sildom  dairkens  my  dure  these 
days."  Nevertheless  they  had  always  ac 
knowledged  his  superiority,  his  mastery, 
and  as  he  entered  they  rose  greeting  him 
with  hearty  hand-clasps.  Their  confidence 
miraculously  returned  at  the  sight  of  his 
face. 

He    wasted    no    time    in    preliminaries. 


WITCH'S    GOLD  201 

"  Sit  down,"  he  said  imperiously,  and  his 
face,  when  he  turned  to  the  light,  was  set 
in  lines  of  determination.  He  sat  for  a 
moment  with  bent  head  while  he  strength 
ened  his  heart  to  a  bitter  and  humiliating 
task,  then  abruptly  began: 

"  Dan,  you  remember  the  time  I  brought 
the  amalgam  home  in  a  phial  and  it  had 
turned  green? " 

"  I  do.     Yis." 

"  Do  you  remember  how  you  gave  it  up 
right  then?  Do  you  remember  what  you 
said?" 

"  I  do.    I  said  it's  '  witches'  gould.'  " 

"  So  you  did,  and  sure  such  it  looked  like 
that  day,"  said  Biddy.  "  It  scared  me,  so 
it  did." 

"  All  the  same,  the  thing  which  scared 
you  put  a  happy  thought  into  my  head.  I 
was  something  of  a  chemist  and  I  felt  even 


202  WITCH'S    GOLD 

then  that  I  could  solve  it — in  fact  I  knew  I 
could.  My  conviction  came  from  knowl 
edge.  Your  fear  rose  from  ignorance.  In 
short,  I  took  advantage  of  your  ignorance 
when  I  bought  in  your  stock  at  ten  cents  on 
the  dollar.  I  knew  it  was  worth  par,  for  I 
had  already  mentally  invented  a  process  for 
treating  that  ore.  That  is  what  I  am  here 
to  say  to  you  to-night." 

There  was  a  silence,  a  very  awesome  si 
lence  following  the  defiant  ring  of  the  voice. 
His  confession  seemed  at  the  moment  a  kind 
of  challenge. 

Eldred  was  the  first  to  comprehend  the 
full  meaning  of  the  confession.  His  eyes 
glittered  like  those  of  an  awakened  rat. 

1  You're  a  witness  to  what  he  says.  You 
hear  him.  He  admits  that  he  robbed  us, 
robbed  us  cold  and  clean."  He  sprang  up. 
"  We've  got  you  now!  You'll  pay  me " 


WITCH'S    GOLD  203 

"  Sit  down,"  interrupted  Clement  harsh 
ly.  "I'm  not  going  to  waste  any  words  on 
you.  You're  merely  incidental.  If  I  had 
seen  fit  not  to  tell  you  of  this  how  much 
would  you  have  known  of  it?  Sit  down 
and  keep  your  tongue  between  your  teeth." 
He  turned  to  Dan  and  his  voice  was  softer. 
"  Dan,  when  I  was  hungry  you  took  me 
in  and  fed  me.  You  ruined  yourself  to 
stake  me.  For  that  I've  given  you  two 
hundred  dollars  a  month.  Is  that  debt 
paid?" 

"  Sure,  Clement,  me  boy,  it  was  only  a 
sup  of  p'taties  an'  bacon,  annyway.  Don't 
give  it  anny  more  thought.  'Tis  all  set 
tled.  I've  no  kick  coming." 

Clement  turned  to  Biddy  and  said: 

"  Biddy,  I  turned  over  two  thousand  dol 
lars  to  you,  and  built  you  a  big  new  eating- 
house.  You  thought  that  paid  the  debt  I 


204  WITCH'S    GOLD 

owed  you,  didn't  you?  Your  share  of  the 
toil  and  trouble  was  repaid — so  you  said." 

Biddy  was  slower  to  answer.  "  For  all 
the  grub  an'  the  loikes  o'  that,  indade  yis, 
Mr.  Clement— but " 

Eldred  prompted  her.  "  But  we  were 
partners  and " 

Clement  interrupted.  "  I  know.  I'm 
coming  to  that.  Now  answer  me.  If  it 
hadn't  been  for  me  wouldn't  you  have 
thrown  up  the  sponge  long  before  you  did? 
How  many  times  did  I  hunt  up  means  to 
go  on?  Wasn't  I  the  original  discoverer 
of  the  mine?  Shouldn't  I  have  been  the 
chief  owner  under  any  condition?  Dan,  you 
gave  up  three  times  and  Biddy,  you  were 
against  it  after  the  first  three  months,  now 
weren't  you?" 

The  silence  of  the  little  group  answered 
him. 


WITCH'S    GOLD  205 

"  Would  any  of  you  ever  have  worked  out 
the  mystery  of  that  ore?  Weren't  you  all 
anxious  to  sell  for  anything  you  could 
get? " 

They  were  all  silent  as  before. 

"  It  was  I  who  made  the  mine  productive. 
I  discovered  the  ore  in  the  first  place  and 
solved  its  treatment.  It  was  an  invention 
like  any  other  and  it  was  mine.  I  raised 
money  to  prosecute  my  researches  by  selling 
my  share  in  the  old  homestead  and  I  paid 
you  four  times  what  you  put  into  it.  I  re 
peat,  the  mine  was  worthless  until  I  invented 
a  process  for  saving  the  gold.  It  was  exactly 
as  if  I  had  rediscovered  it.  I  claim  it  as 
my  invention  just  as  a  man  claims  a  patent 
right.  In  this  spirit  and  understanding  I 
bought  in  your  stock  before  I  had  ac 
tually  solved  the  problem  of  the  reduction. 
I  believed  I  was  in  the  right  at  that  time— 


206  WITCH'S    GOLD 

to-night  I  am  not  so  sure;  it  don't  matter 
how  I  came  to  this  conclusion,  I've  changed 
my  mind,  that's  all  you  need  to  know,  and 
I  now  feel  that  I  would  rather  err  on  the 
side  of  generosity  than  lie  under  the  sus 
picion  of  having  gone  back  on  my  partners. 
I  want  my  career  to  be  above  accusation. 
I  have  come  to-night  to  end  all  doubt.  I 
am  ready  to  pay  you  ninety  cents  more  on 
every  dollar  of  stock  you  sold  me  at  that 
time." 

Biddy  gasped:     "  Howly  Saints!  " 

Dan  leaped  up  with  a  wild  hurrah. 
"  Listen  to  that  now!  "  he  cried,  as  he  shook 
Clement's  hand.  '  Ye're  the  whitest  man 
that  iver  stepped  green  turf." 

Clement  sat  coldly  impassive  and  un 
smiling. 

"  You'll  be  satisfied  with  that,  will  you, 
Dan?" 


WITCH'S    GOLD  207 

"  Satisfied!  "  shouted  the  foreman.  "  Sat 
isfied  is  it,  man?  Indade  I'm  crazy  wid  the 
joy  of  it." 

"  And  you,  Biddy?  " 

Biddy  was  weeping  and  muttering  wild 
Irish  prayers.  "  Mother  o'  God  preserve 
us !  Dan,  dear,  do  ye  understand,  it's  forty- 
five  thousand  dollars  apiece  to  the  two  of  us 
— Oh,  the  blessed  heart!  Oh,  it's  too  good 
to  be  true — we  must  be  dramin'.  What  will 
we  do  with  it  all?  " 

Clement  looking  upon  the  distracted  man 
and  woman  expanded  and  warmed  with  a 
return  of  his  self -righteousness.  "  I  was 
right  after  all.  It  will  be  the  ruin  of  these 
poor  souls."  He  turned  to  Eldred,  who 
sat  in  silence. 

"  What  have  you  to  say?  " 

Eldred  sneered.  "  I  say  you  can't  fool 
me.  These  shares  are  worth  a  dollar  and 


208  WITCH'S    GOLD 

eighty  cents  in  the  market.  I  want  their 
market  value,  not  their  par  value.  I  de 
mand  a  quarter  of  the  present  value  of  The 
Witch." 

Clement's  brow  darkened  and  his  eyes 
burned  with  a  fierce  steady  light.  "  De 
mand!  You  talk  largely.  You  have  al 
ways  been  modest  in  your  pretensions.  If 
I  served  you  right  I'd  kick  you  out  of  the 
door  and  let  you  do  your  worst.  You  can't 
recover  one  dollar  from  me  by  any  process 
of  law.  You  have  no  basis  for  such  a  de 
mand  and  your  threats  to  sue  for  recovery 
haven't  a  straw's  weight  with  me.  My 
reasons  for  putting  up  with  your  insolence 
and  repeating  my  offer  are  due  to  consider 
ations  which  you  could  not  comprehend. 
Now  listen  carefully.  I  will  pay  you  forty- 
five  thousand  dollars  and  not  one  cent  more. 
The  market  value  of  The  Witch  to-day  I 


WITCH'S    GOLD  209 

have  made  by  my  management.  I  have 
gone  on  improving  the  mine  week  by  week. 
As  it  stands  it  is  a  new  property,  and  you 
have  no  claim  upon  it.  You  were  a  quarter 
owner  in  The  Biddy.  We  capitalised  The 
Biddy  at  your  own  suggestion  at  two  hun 
dred  thousand  dollars,  because  we  wanted  it 
big  enough  to  cover  all  possible  values. 
When  I  render  you  your  share  of  that  sum 
I  am  doing  you  full  justice.  Conly,"  he 
said  turning  to  the  cashier,  "  make  out  three 
cheques  for  forty-five  thousand  dollars  each 
to  these  three  individuals  and  prepare  three 
receipts  in  full  of  account." 

The  scratching  of  the  cashier's  fateful 
pen  was  the  only  sound  that  broke  the  si 
lence  for  some  time,  and  when  Conly  ex 
tended  the  first  cheque  and  called  "  Mrs. 
McCarty,"  she  went  up  and  timidly  took  it 
in  her  hands.  "  Is  that  little  slip  o'  white 


210  WITCH'S    GOLD 

paper  really  worth  all  that  money? "  she 
asked  doubtfully. 

"  Call  at  the  bank  and  get  the  gold 
when  you  want  it,"  said  the  imperturbable 
cashier. 

Dan  studied  his  cheque,  his  face  foolish 
with  joy.  "  Howly  saints,  phwat  will  I  do 
widit?" 

"  Give  it  to  me,  Dan,  I'll  buy  a  new  house 
in  the  Springs  wid  it." 

Eldred  said :  "  I  take  my  cheque  as  part 
payment  only.  I'm  going  to  use  it  to  get 
the  rest  of  what  you  owe  me.  I  serve  no 
tice  of  that  right  now." 

Clement  interposed.  "  You'll  sign  a  re 
lease  of  all  claims  on  me  before  you  take 
your  cheque.  Conly,  make  out  a  paper  to 
that  effect." 

Eldred  grew  purple  with  wrathi.  "  I  re 
fuse  to  accept  it." 


WITCH'S    GOLD  211 

Clement  coolly  replied:  "You'd  better 
consider;  forty-five  thousand  dollars  is  a 
good  deal  of  money." 

The  little  man  struggled  over  tHe  ques 
tion  while  Dan  begged  him  to  take  it  and 
Biddy  plainly  said :  :  'Tis  more  money 
than  you'll  ever  see  again." 

At  last  he  yielded  and  as  he  signed  and 
took  the  cheque,  he  said:  "  This  puts 
money  into  my  hands  to  fight  for  my 
rights." 

"  Get  out,"  said  Clement  sternly,  and 
Eldred  went  out  with  an  evil  final  word. 

When  the  door  closed  on  him  Clement's 
face  lost  its  sternness,  and  he  became  both 
sad  and  tender. 

His  restitution  was  not  yet  complete. 
His  mind  was  clear  about  the  man  who  came 
in  at  the  eleventh  hour,  but  it  was  not  clear 
with  regard  to  these  true-hearted  old 


212  WITCH'S    GOLD 

friends  who  had  been  with  him  from  the 
first. 

He  recalled  the  time  when  Dan's  big 
arm  had  helped  him  to  a  chair,  and  Biddy 
had  put  the  steaming  soup  before  him — 
food  worth  all  the  gold  in  the  world  at  that 
moment.  He  recalled  her  broad,  kindly 
face,  hot  and  shining  from  the  stove;  he  re 
membered  their  share  in  his  struggles,  their 
sacrifices  for  the  mine,  and  a  new  and  sweet 
er  tone  was  in  his  voice  as  he  called  to  Biddy 
who  had  risen  to  go  home : 

"  Wait  a  moment,  Biddy.  Sit  down  a 
moment,  and  you,  too,  Dan.  I  want  to 
talk  over  old  times  with  you." 

They  came  back  slowly  and  took  seats, 
awed  by  the  change  in  his  voice  and  by  the 
look  on  his  face. 

"  Biddy,  do  you  remember  the  money  you 
squandered  on  the  lottery  ticket?  " 


WITCH'S    GOLD  213 

A  slow  smile  broadened  her  face.  "  I  do, 
Mister  Clement — and  I  remember  I  won 
the  prize,  sure !  " 

"  So  you  did,  and  at  the  moment  saved 
all  our  lives.  Dan,  do  you  remember  the 
day  we  lost  our  last  five-dollar  gold  piece 
on  the  hill? " 

Dan  slapped  his  knee.  "  Do  I?  I  wore 
me  fingers  raw  as  beef  combin'  the  grass 
that  day." 

A  musing  smile  came  to  Clement's  face. 
"Ah,  those  were  great  days!  We  had 
times  when  ninety  cents  would  have  made 
us  joyous,  and  here  you  are  with  ninety 
thousand  dollars,  and  wishin'  for  more." 

Dan  smiled  broadly.  "  Sure,  that's  no 
lie.  "Tis  human  nature  bedad." 

"  Spake  for  yourself,  ye  miser,"  said 
Biddy.  "  I  have  enough — too  much.  My 
heart  misgives  me  for  it.  I'm  afraid  of  all 


214  WITCH'S    GOLD 

this  gould.     I'm  scared  to  carry  it  away  wid 


me." 


'You're  safe,  Biddy;  nobody  will  steal 
your  piece  of  paper.  Your  trouble  will 
come  after  it  goes  to  the  bank,"  Clement  re 
assured  her. 

"  Dan,  you  believed  in  me  in  those  days — 
give  me  that  cheque." 

Dan  slowly  handed  to  him  the  cheque. 
Clement  took  it  and  turned.  "  Biddy,  you 
fed  me  when  I  was  starving,  and  you 
pawned  everything  you  had  to  '  grub-stake  ' 
me — give  me  your  cheque."  She  handed  it 
to  him  without  hesitation.  "  I  want  you  to 
trust  me  now.  Do  you?  " 

"  Av  coorse  we  do,"  said  Biddy. 

"  Gwan  wid  ye!  "  said  Dan. 

Clement  tore  the  cheques  in  little  pieces 
while  the  two  owners  sat  in  amaze  and  a 
chill  of -fear.  "  Now  you  are  each  a  quar- 


WITCH'S    GOLD  215 

ter  owner  in  The  Witch"  said  Clement. 
"  As  we  shared  and  shared  alike  in  the  old 
days  when  we  hadn't  a  dollar,  so  now  we'll 
share  alike  when  The  Witch  is  giving  us 
gold  in  a  stream.  So  hurrah  for  The 
Witch!" 

Nobody  shouted,  nobody  spoke.  Biddy 
was  weeping,  with  one  arm  flung  around 
her  husband's  neck.  Dan  sat  nervously 
turning  his  hat  over  and  over  in  his  hands 
staring  hard  at  Clement's  face,  intent  to 
understand  his  motive.  It  was  all  too  high, 
too  wonderful  for  his  imagination  to  seize 
upon.  Biddy  understood  it  by  reason  of 
the  tremor  in  the  big  mine  owner's  voice, 
and  her  love  for  him  swept  away  the  last 
shred  of  the  suspicion  Eldred  had  put  into 
her  heart. 

Clement  did  not  speak  again  for  some 
moments  and  when  he  did  his  voice  was  deep 


216  WITCH'S    GOLD 

and  his  words  musical  with  emotion.  "  You 
notice  I  say  quarter  interest,  Biddy — that's 
because  there  is  to  be  a  new  member  in 
the  firm.  She  comes  in  to-morrow.  You 
remember  I  take  a  wife  to-morrow."  This 
gave  Dan  a  new  thought.  "  We  do  and  we 
have  a  present  for  her." 

A  smile  of  admiration  broke  through  the 
red  of  Biddy's  broad  countenance. 

"  Sure  we  know  all  about  it,  Mister  Clem 
ent.  Didn't  she  call  upon  me,  beautiful 
as  one  of  the  saints  in  the  church? " 

Her  husband  resented  this.  "  She's  none 
too  good  for  him." 

"Don't  say  that,  Dan!"  Clement  pro 
tested  most  earnestly.  "  All  I've  done  to 
night  you  can  thank  her  for.  All  the  best 
thoughts  in  me  to-day  I  owe  to  her." 

"  Then  praise  be  to  her,"  said  Biddy,  and 
she  suddenly  flung  her  arm  around  his  neck 


WITCH'S    GOLD  217 

and  gave  him  a  hearty  smack.     "  There, 
now !  tell  her  of  that  if  you  dare !  " 

"  I'm  going  back  to-night  to  tell  her 
every  word  of  this,"  he  said,  "  and  when  we 
get  back  from  our  wedding  trip  you  must 
come  down  and  take  dinner  with  us  and 
we'll  plan  the  future  of  The  Witch  to 
gether." 

"  May  the  saints  smile  on  ye  both,"  Biddy 
fervently  exclaimed,  "and  may  your  chil- 
der  be  as  strong  as  their  father  and  as 
beautiful  as  their  mother — God  bless  her! " 

"Amen  to  that,  Biddy — and  now  good 
night  and  pleasant  dreams." 

"  Dreams !  Not  one  wink  o'  sleep  will  I 
get  this  night." 

And  so  they  parted  with  the  stars  over 
head  and  the  silent  town  below. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

rTlHERE  remained  to  the  bridegroom 
•JL  now  the  joy  of  riding  back  to  tell  his 
bride  of  his  penitential  redress.  The  gloom 
and  doubt  of  himself  had  passed  away,  but 
the  sense  of  the  sacrifice  which  was  asso 
ciated  with  her  love  for  him  remained.  He 
was  returning  to  her  honest,  but  a  coarse 
creature  nevertheless,  ill-suited  to  mate 
with  her  beauty.  "  I  must  be  henceforth  a 
different  man,"  he  said,  and  made  his  vows 
to  live  for  her  alone,  to  make  her  happy. 
"  I  will  measure  myself  by  the  standards  she 
holds.  I  will  take  up  the  study  of  books 
again,  and  strive  for  the  finer  graces  of  life. 
Now  that  my  struggle  for  a  home  is  over — 
thank  God  it  ended  before  I  was  too  old — 
I  can  begin  to  think  of  other  and  higher 


WITCH'S    GOLD  219 

things."  In  such  wise,  though  less  definite 
ly,  he  planned  his  new  life. 

Leaving  Susanna  at  the  barn  he  saddled 
a  fresh  horse  and  set  off,  riding  fast  toward 
the  east.  The  wind  had  risen  and  was  blow 
ing  from  the  dim  domes  of  the  highest 
mountains — a  cold  wind,  and  he  would  have 
said  a  sad  wind  had  his  heart  been  less  light. 
As  it  was,  he  was  fortified  against  it  and 
lifted  a  bared  forehead  to  it  exultantly,  put 
ting  behind  him,  so  far  as  in  his  power  lay, 
all  regret  of  the  great  wealth  he  had  given 
away.  He  galloped  on,  glad  to  feel  the 
strong  heart  of  the  horse  beneath  him,  eager 
to  pour  out  the  story  of  his  night's  ride, 
eager  to  hear  his  bride  say :  '  Well  done, 
Richard." 

Over  and  over  again  his  thought  ran: 
"Now  my  hands  are  clean.  My  mind  is 
at  rest.  I  am  not  worthy  of  her  of  course 


220  WITCH'S    GOLD 

— no  man  could  be.  But  I  love  her  and  she 
is  generous.  Henceforth  she  shall  be  my 
altar  of  sacrifice.  All  I  do  shall  be  for  her. 
All  there  is  of  my  money,  my  inventive 
skill,  my  command  of  men,  shall  be  hers. 
She  shall  regulate  every  hour  of  my  coming 
and  going  if  she  will,  and  I  will  share  with 
her  all  the  plans  and  purposes  of  my  life." 

As  he  passed  Cathedral  Crag  the  pale 
lances  of  the  coming  sun  had  pierced  the 
dove-grey  breasts  of  the  soaring  clouds,  and, 
behold,  they  had  grown  into  birds  of  para 
dise  with  wings  of  orange,  and  crimson  and 
purple.  Soon  the  stars  began  to  pale  and 
disappear  one  by  one,  drowned  by  the  on- 
rushing  light  of  the  dawn,  the  silence  was 
so  profound  he  could  hear  the  dropping  of 
twigs  and  the  slender  trickle  of  a  stream. 
As  he  came  to  the  eastern  slope  where, 
through  a  vista,  the  plain  could  be  seen 


WITCH'S    GOLD  221 

stretching  away  in  dim  splendour,  like  a 
motionless  sea  of  pale  gold  and  purple, 
the  sun  rolled  above  the  horizon  line  a 
mighty  gleaming  chariot  wheel,  red-gold 
and  burnished,  and  the  beauty  and  joy  of 
the  world  reasserted  its  dominion  over  him. 
The  wonder  of  each  day's  return  came  to 
him  as  to  a  little  child. 

The  valley  seemed  lonely  and  barren  of 
life,  so  far  below  was  it.  All  human  action 
and  presence  was  lost  in  the  mist  of  immen 
sity — houses  were  of  the  stature  of  ant  hills, 
men  of  the  value  of  aphides — but  he  thought 
not  so.  "Down  there  in  the  pathway  of 
the  morning  is  the  sweetest  woman  of  all 
this  world  waiting  for  me,"  he  sang,  the 
lover  rising  superior  to  the  cynic. 

As  he  rode  into  the  town,  the  sun  was 
swinging,  big  in  blazing  splendour,  high 
above  the  horizon,  and  the  citizens  of  the 


222  WITCH'S    GOLD 

valley  were  astir  finding  the  world  compar 
atively  unchanged — but  to  Clement  it  \\ 
a  fairer,  sunnier  world.     It  was  the  mo 
radiant  of  all  the  days  of  his  life — his  wed 
ding  day — and  he  felt  as  young  as  twenty 
as  he  slipped  from  his  horse — unwearied 
and  clear-eyed. 

Notwithstanding  his  heart's  high  tension 
his  long  ride  had  made  him  humanly  hun 
gry,  and  he  permitted  himself  a  roll  and  a 
cup  of  coffee  while  dressing  to  go  to  his 
bride. 

At  eight  o'clock  He  'phoned  to  her: 

"  I  have  not  forgotten.  When  do  you 
breakfast?" 

She  replied: 

"  All  is  ready;  come  over  as  soon  as  you 
can.  I  am  waiting.  We  are  to  breakfast 
alone."  And  in  her  voice  he  detected  some 
thing  new  and  sweet. 


WITCH'S    GOLD  223 

He  went  to  her  with  the  heart  of  a  boy, 

tjte  presence  of  an  athlete.     He  was  at  the 

^•ime  of  his  robust  manhood,  and  even  an 

ail-night  ride  could  not  humble  the  physical 

j^ride  of  his  bearing.     No  one  could  have 

guessed  his  night's  adventure  from  his  looks. 

She  took  joy  in  his  comely  strength  and 
met  him  more  than  half  way  in  tender  greet 
ing.  Her  face  was  still  slender  and  deli 
cate  of  colour,  but  in  her  eyes  was  a  serene 
brightness,  and  her  lips  were  tremulous  with 
happiness  as  she  led  him  to  the  little  table. 
"  Now  you  mustn't  call  this  a  real  break 
fast,"  she  smilingly  explained.  "  This  is 
just  a  bite  to  sustain  us  through  our  ordeal. 
We  are  to  breakfast  immediately  after  the 
ceremony." 

"  I've  eaten  one  breakfast  already  this 
morning." 

She  looked  dismayed.     "  Have  you !  " 


224  WITCH'S    GOLD 

"  At  least  a  roll  and  a  cup  of  coffee,"  he 
hastened  to  explain.  "  However,  I  think 
I  could  eat  all  there  is  here  and  not  be  in 
convenienced." 

They  sat  down  and  looked  at  each  other 
in  silence.  She  spoke  first. 

"  Just  think,  this  is  the  last  time  you  will 
ever  sit  down  to  eat  with  Miss  Ross.  This 
is  the  last  of  our—  She  did  not  finish. 

"  You  seem  to  be  sad  about  it." 

"  I  am — and  yet  I  am  very  happy.  I 
don't  suppose  you  can  understand  how  it  is 
that  a  woman  can  wish  to  marry  the  man 
she  loves — and  yet  be  sad,  but  it's  so.  She 
can't  forget  that  she  is  leaving  girlhood  be 
hind,"  she  brightened  as  to  put  away  all 
doubt.  "  Now  let  me  see,  you  take  two 
lumps,  don't  you?  I  must  fix  that  firmly 
in  my  mind,  it's  very  important  if  we  are  to 
travel.  It  makes  the  waiter  stare  when  a 


WITCH'S    GOLD  225 

wife  can't  remember  how  many  lumps  of 
sugar  her  husband  takes." 

"  But  we're  not  going  to  travel  very  far, 
are  we?  You  ought  not  to  go  out  of  Colo 
rado.  I  thought  we  were  to  take  a  little 
trip  of  a  day  or  two  and  return  to  our  new 
house  which  I  have  made  ready  at  the  point 
of  the  bayonet." 

"  I  was  only  being  funny,  you  serious 
boy,"  she  answered.  "  But  you  are  not 
eating.  What  is  the  matter?  I'm  afraid 
you  ate  a  real  breakfast  at  the  hotel." 

He  felt  his  courage  oozing  away,  and  in 
despair  of  any  delicate  approach  abruptly 
began : 

"  Dearest,  I  have  a  story  to  tell  and 
a  confession  to  make  to  you  before  I  can 
eat." 

She  was  a  little  startled  by  his  change  of 
manner.  "  That  sounds  ominous,  Richard 


226  WITCH'S    GOLD 

—like  the  husband  in  the  problem  play,  only 
he  makes  his  confession  after  marriage." 

He  was  very  grave  indeed  now.  '  That 
is  the  reason  why  I  make  my  explanation 
now.  I  can't  ask  you  to  take  me  without 
a  fuller  knowledge  of  me.  I  have  told  you 
a  good  deal  but  not  all.  There  is  still  a 
dark  spot  in  my  business  career." 

She  leaned  her  chin  on  her  clasped  hands 
and  looked  at  him  with  clear,  calm,  confi 
dent  eyes.  "  Tell  me  all  about  it.  I  am 
not  afraid  to  hear  anything  you  tell  me  in 
that  spirit." 

He  did  so.  He  began  at  the  beginning, 
and  while  it  would  not  be  true  to  say  that 
he  was  unsparing  of  himself  (no  man  tells 
all  his  faults)  he  nevertheless  told  the  story 
of  the  mine  as  it  actually  happened.  He 
concealed  no  essential,  and  he  ended  by  say 
ing  :  "  All  I  did  was  legal  but  I  now  see 


WITCH'S    GOLD  227 

that  it  was  not  just.  As  I  came  to  measure 
it  by  your  standards  I  grew  uneasy.  You 
would  have  shared  your  conviction  with 
Dan  and  Biddy  had  you  been  in  my  place. 
You  would  not  have  taken  advantage  of 
their  ignorance — would  you?  Well,  last 
night  I  came  to  a  knowledge  of  my  fault. 
I  could  not  sleep  till  I  had  made  my  peace 
with  my  conscience,  so  I  rode  to  the  mine 
and  restored  my  self-respect  by  turning 
over  to  Dan  and  Biddy  and  Eldred  their 
full  share  of  The  Biddy.  I  couldn't  kiss 
you  again  until  I  had  made  myself  an 
honest  man.  It  came  hard  to  put  into  the 
hands  of  my  only  enemy  the  means  to  con 
tinue  his  fight  against  me — but  I  did  it  up 
borne  by  thought  of  you." 

She  reached  and  took  his  hand — a  sudden 
convulsive  tender  action.  "  You  did  this 
last  night? " 


228  WITCH'S    GOLD 

"  Yes,  I've  been  to  the  camp  since  I  left 
you  last  night.  I  couldn't  stand  with  you 
before  all  our  friends,  and  ask  you  to  wear 
my  ring  till  I  could  say  I  had  no  other  man's 
money  in  my  pockets." 

She  patted  his  hand.  "Poor  boy,  you 
must  be  tired." 

He  sighed  with  sweet  relief.  "  But  I 
am  square  with  the  world  now.  Dan  and 
Biddy  are  equal  partners  with  us  in  The 
Witch — and  they  are  both  very  happy." 

She  lifted  his  hand  and  touched  her  cheek 
to  his  fingers.  She  was  very  deeply  moved. 
'  You  did  that  because  of  me?  " 

And  he — though  his  voice  choked — fal 
tered  through: 

'"Yes,  I  gave  it  all  back,  to  make  my 
peace  with  you — and  because  it  was  right. 
You  had  made  me  see  that.  I  gave  over  to 
Biddy  and  Dan  their  full  share.  I  tried  to 


WITCH'S    GOLD  229 

withhold  some  of  it;  it  was  hard  to  give  it 
all — I  will  admit  that;  but  I  did  it  because 
I  believed  you  would  approve  of  it." 

"  It  was  a  splendid  thing  to  do,"  she  said. 
"  Not  many  men  would  have  done  it  I 
fear." 

'  They  couldn't  help  it  if  they  had  a  wife 
like  you  to  help  them  to  be  honest.  Your 
eyes  were  my  accusers.  I  was  only  trying 
to  make  myself  worthy  you.  Will  you 
marry  me  now?  Will  you  trust  yourself 
tome?" 

For  answer  she  rose  and  came  to  his  side 
and  put  her  arms  about  his  neck  and  laid  a 
kiss  on  his  anxious  upturned  face.  "It  is 
beautiful  to  think  that  I  influenced  you — 
but — I'm  sure  that  your  own  heart  has 
prompted  you  to  be  honest  just  for  the  sake 
of  being  honest.  You  are  one  of  the  great 
est  men  I  have  ever  known." 


230  WITCH'S    GOLD 

He  touched  his  lips  to  her  hand  which  lay 
on  his  shoulder.  "  I  did  see  the  justice  of  it 
—  but  I  hadn't  the  moral  courage  to  go  to 
them  and  say  so  —  the  moving  inspiration 
came  from  you." 

'  Well,  it's  all  settled  and  now  we  must 
begin  to  dress  for  our  ceremony." 

"Don't  call  it  that!"  he  exclaimed  with 
startled  face.  "  It  was  to  be  strictly  pri 
vate  --  " 

She  laughed.  "  So  it  is  —  but  it's  a  cere 
mony  nevertheless." 


The  big  bowl  from  Dan's  committee  oc 
cupied  a  place  of  honour  among  the  wedding 
presents  and  Ellice  was  much  touched  by  its 
significance. 

"The  good  faithful  Dan!  We  must 
have  him  and  Biddy  to  dinner  some  day." 


WITCH'S    GOLD  231 

"  They  shall  be  the  first  to  break  bread 
in  our  new  house,"  he  answered  with  tender 
gravity. 


THE  END 


LOAN  DEPT 


Garland. 

C&OOC/VJ 

G23? 

'"itch's  g 

>ld. 

WJL 

> 

_L_/ 

Sep  25,'?!  Hodgki 
" 


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